Grand Chase Season One: The Earth
by TheHellequin
Summary: No life is completely safe. No one is safe against the tides of change. And no man can resist the call of fate. When Creation lies on the brink of destruction, only those chosen by destiny can fight the end and bring order from chaos once again. Rated M for language.
1. Adoption

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Grand Chase or its characters. They belong to KOG' Studios. The locations I took from the game also belong to KOG'.

**Chapter One ==Adoption**

ONE

Malcolm Orphanage, 1989.

"What are you doing, Lass?" asked the man.

Lass, the boy asked about his current activity, didn't answer, but merely closed the book he was reading, so that the orphanage's caretaker could see the title. He was stunned. The book was called "The Radiation Concept.

"You know, Lass, this isn't a book for children…"

"What do you know?" answered the boy called Lass. The cold look in his eyes was frightening. "If you had done this when you were young, maybe you would have successfully followed whatever career you wanted before you ended up here…"

_What the hell?_ That was the first time he was getting those words from a child.

"What if I say I like what I do? Because I do. I love it."

"No, you don't. Working on an orphanage is never a child's dream. I know it, you know it, and you just deny it to yourself so that you don't have to face the fact that you _are_ a failure."

The man's face became white. And then fully red.

"You take that back, Lass, right now!" he yelled. "This is not a nice thing to say!"

The boy merely laughed. A sarcastic, cold laugh that made the man's heart skip a beat.

"What is so wrong about saying out loud what everyone thinks? Now, I tell you, you are a failure of a man, a stupid orphanage keeper and if you still had your parents, they would be either crying in shame or laughing at your stupidity and meaninglessness." that same cold laughs again. This time, louder.

After that event, the boy named Lass spent his next three weeks doing everyone's chores. In his mind, he regretted nothing. He only told that failure the truth. _What is so wrong about saying out loud what everyone thinks?_

TWO

"So, little girl, didn't you owe me some money?"

"Eh… did I?" the girl seemed confused. And scared. Definitely scared. Lass, on the other hand, wasn't scared. He was just watching.

"Yeah, you did. Don't you remember?" McCulley, eleven years old and overweight, surrounded by the usual gang of five boys almost the same size as himself, pressured the girl called Johanna, smaller than him, like his usual victims. "I'm hungry now, so I want it back. You're not gonna say you don't have it, will you?"

"But, Patrick, if I pay you, I won't have the bus money. How am I supposed to go home?" she asked, uncomfortable.

"And how am I supposed to keep up with my daily activities hungry? C'mon, where is my money?"

Reluctantly, Johanna took out a little bag and tried to open it. McCulley, though, took the bag out of her hands, with a rough move.

"I'll keep this, ya? Consider it as an additional for being late." he laughed along with his gang, and Lass thought it was like pigs grunting. Until that moment, Lass was leaning against a column. No longer. Now he was standing in McCulley's way, looking up at him.

"You're that mute kid, Stronghold, right? What the fuck do you want?" asked McCulley.

"It's not like he could answer, he's mute!" said one of the boys surrounding McCulley, getting a laugh out of the others. Lass didn't care. His business was with McCulley.

"You just stole that girl Johanna, right? She owed you nothing." Lass' voice always sounded low, because of the lack of use, but it was clear enough so that McCulley could hear.

"So what if I did? What do you have to do with it?" he answered, roughly.

"You are a useless bastard, but stealing is too low, even for you." McCulley's face became fully red. "Give it back."

"Are you mad, you little monkey? I could just break your little bones and use them as toothpicks for that, you moron. Take that back and apologize and I may not send you to the hospital."

Lass didn't care for that too. McCulley's threats sounded empty at his ears.

"Just give it back, McCulley. I don't have the slightest intention of wasting my time fighting you." he said, motionless as always. At this point, there was a growing crowd around the two of them. The crowd laughed and started cheering McCulley up.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" they screamed.

"What you're gonna do now, Stronghold? I'm gonna kill you!"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

As soon as he said that, McCulley raised his immense hand, but, before he could even close it, Lass' fist hit his large belly with an unbelievable strength, expelling all of the air in McCulley's lungs. Almost simultaneously, Lass' other hand hit his face with the same indescribable strength. _What the…_ There was no time to conclude the thought. Lass grabbed the front of McCulley's shirt, so that he wouldn't fall, and started punching him mercilessly, fast and relentless, about seven times, before he released the shirt. McCulley went straight to the ground, stunned. Now the crowd was screaming and cheering like people watching a soccer match. Someone screamed "Out of the way!" somewhere in the back, but was probably ignored. Lass was now on top of McCulley. The larger boy tried to raise his hand and hit Lass, but he simply grabbed the guy's hand and fully twisted it two times. There was a large cracking sound, followed by McCulley's scream of pain and pure terror. _I'm fighting the Devil's son!_

"Stop that, Stronghold!" yelled a voice in Lass' back. He left the screaming McCulley on the floor, holding something. Ignoring the inspector he looked at the object in his right hand.

"Hey, miss." he said, looking at Johanna. "I think this is yours." He throwed her coin bag in her hands.

"Someone, take McCulley to the hospital. You, Stronghold, come with me." Lass didn't say nothing. Only allowed himself to be taken. He was not nervous at all. Throughout the whole fight, his face didn't change a single time, even though his right hand was bleeding because of the punches. He didn't feel the pain, as usual. For Lass Stronghold, there was never any pain.

THREE

"We've got some really good kids here. You've come to the right place!" said the director of Malcolm Orphanage, like a man presenting his goods to the costumers. The goods were the orphans. The costumers were John and Sarah Kennedy, a new-wed couple who wanted a son/daughter without having to go through pregnancy.

"This is Lia, a very intelligent girl, if you want to know." he said, pointing at a blonde girl. "That is Gregory; he's the oldest around here."

"No, no." said the good-looking woman, called Sarah. "Not so old, someone a little younger."

She looked around.

"Just don't pick a too young kid." said the man, John. "Remember why we are here? No baby?"

"Yeah, that was your idea, now stop bothering me. That" she said, pointing at a silver-haired boy in the corner of the library section. "Seems like the perfect age we are searching. How old is he?"

"Oh, _that_ one… Well, that boy is nine years old." The director of the orphanage looked rather uncomfortable.

"See?" said Sarah. "That's perfect! Exactly what we came here for. Who is he? He's been here for how long?"

"That is Lass. He's been here since he was about one year and a half, or so we believe. Was brought here by this weird guy, said he found the kid somewhere in the outskirts, almost dead. I've made some research on his last name, Stronghold, and found out him, or his parents, are from Finland. Can you believe it? Finland!"

"Okay, he's from Finland, but he's obviously not in Finland anymore, right? He's here, and he's an orphan, so we can go and talk to him."

"I would not recommend that kid to anyone." said the director, darkly. "Really odd boy, that one. Got involved in a fight at school about two weeks ago. Broke both nose and wrist of a guy almost thrice his weight. Got suspended for that for five days. He also doesn't like to talk very much. The last time we heard his voice was about three days ago. Has been quiet since then. He's really, really smart, though. And that's not all of it. Some years ago, he was diagnosed with a neural disease. I don't remember the name, but it's got something to do with the fact that he doesn't feel pain. You can cut him, burn him, break him, he doesn't feel a thing, and heal incredibly fast. Can you believe it?"

"Can we talk to him?" asked Sarah, impatiently.

"You can do as you please; I'm just warning you that you may be making a bad choice."

"Whatever; call him, will you?"

The director sighed, and then yelled.

"Hey, Lass! Come over here, boy!"

The boy looked at the director for a moment, looking slightly curious, and then got up and walked to them, stopping right in front of John. He looked up at the man's face, with the same expression, simultaneously curious and uninterested.

"These are John and Sarah Kennedy" said the director. "They want to talk to you."

Lass looked at him for a moment, but soon his shining blue eyes were back at the couple. He spoke, and John was unsettled by his voice. It was too deep for a nine-year old boy, and also too motionless. _Like the voice of someone who saw everything and nothing caught his interest._

"You are not the first." he said. "There were three other who called out to me."

"You are Lass Stronghold?" asked Sarah. The boy nodded. "Well…"

Lass could already see the conversation script. First, they were going to ask him questions. Then, they were going to see his files with the director. Finally, they would go away empty-handed or pick someone else.

That was the first real surprise of his life, when the woman called Sarah Kennedy called out for the director, saying that she would like to adopt Lass.

FOUR

Roses Garden Graveyard, 1998.

_I'm not gonna cry. No matter what, I won't cry!_ Lass was so sure back then. Now there he was, crying. That time, though, he thought he could forgive himself. That woman became his mother. It was only natural for him to be in pain. _So this is pain._ Standing next to John, he gazed down at the closed coffin. Closed, yes, because the funeral was a good-bye. And people cannot say good-bye when they are busy thinking what in the world happened to a person who lost his/her face and got a ball of rotten meat as replacement.

Sarah Kennedy was out shopping in the supermarket Wal-Mart in the city of Seagull Bay, in March, 7th 1998. An assault began and the police was called. When the officers arrived at the place, a shootout happened. One of the policemen (May God make the little bastard freeze in an acid lake) shot his .45 Peacemaker without looking straight, and the shot went straight into the face of the third woman in the line of Cash number 4. A woman called Sarah Marina Kennedy. Wife to John Derek Kennedy and mother to Lass Anubys Stronghold (whose name wasn't Kennedy, by his own choice) and to Arme Sarah Kennedy, respectively 13 and 12 years old.

That was the story of how Lass ended up dressed in black, in a graveyard, looking at a closed coffin. A coffin that contained his deceased stepmother. Standing next to a purple-haired girl, also wearing black. _Stepsister._ The very word sounded weird. Weird like the bond that bided them together two years earlier. The bond that was now lying inside a closed coffin, unrecognizable. _Sarah is dead._ The world seemed to have lost some of its enchantment. He knew that, if he was the same Lass of four years ago, only another orphan who happened to have a rare disease, he would not cry, since his emotions were imprisoned within his shell of indifference. Sarah (and John, in a smaller scale) changed that. Though, the opening of his heart was one of the things he knew he would never regret.

Lass would see a line in a movie many years after that ceremony, a line that he recognized as the one line that turned his feelings, in that exact moment, into letters.

_The world is still the same. There's just less in it._

FIVE

Gerd Street, 64. 2007

"I can't believe you talked me into this!" yelled Arme, obviously mad at him. "That place is a total mess! How am I supposed to live there?"

"Calm down, okay? There's no use yelling at me now that the contract is signed."

"Calm down? Unlike you, I care about the sanitary condition of the places I intend to live in! And that goddamn shack doesn't even have a sanitary condition at all!"

Lass heard the girl's nervous breakout, trying to focus on his own bags. That wasn't the first (and it probably wouldn't be the last) time Arme showed him her anger in the form of words, normally in a higher volume than her standard voice. _Normal occurrence, no need to care about it._

Even though he didn't care, he had to admit that his little sister was half right. They were moving to a really unpleasant place. _The worst mistake I was stupid enough to make in my seventeen years of life._ He had no choice but to deal with it. The contract was already signed.

Arme was moving because of High School. Same as himself. But that would be the girl's first year in High. Not to him. That was the second to him, but the other one didn't count. Second-class schools do not count. But that one was _the_ school, the best in the state, one of the best in America. Arme should be proud of being able to go into such school (and she probably was), but she could be thinking that the price was too high. _That dorm really is something. So bad and so expensive._ It was John's money they were wasting, at least on the next months, until they got a job. Lass didn't care at all, but Arme's mind would not let her do it for too long: she liked John a lot, unlike him. He didn't hate John, but the man could be annoying. The first intention, when Lass was adopted, was for him to be the son, but with Sarah's death, Lass and John became more like two men living under the same roof then father and son. Arme was Lass' stepsister, also adopted two years after Lass, and considerate John his father, no matter what he did.

"Hey, are you guys ready?" John was downstairs, waiting for them to finish packing up so that they could go. _Like I want to go there. It's a piece of junk!_ It was his idea to move in there, but only for the price. It was expensive, but the other places, not as broken as that dorm he was heading, were even more expensive. _Capitalism is killing this world._

"I am, but Lass is taking longer than anything!" Arme said. "Maybe he doesn't want to go, after all."

"Nice try, little sis. I was just looking for something. Now that I've found it, hit the road."

Sighing, Arme left the room, followed by Lass, who closed the door behind himself. Downstairs, John was waiting, leaning against his Golf car, year 1999.

"Finally, my two daughters are ready!" said John, looking impatient.

"Now let's drive, mom, if you don't want me to do that." Lass answered, sarcastically, and received a blazing look from Arme for that.

"You, driving _my_ car? Go buy yourself one, if you want to drive. Besides, you have no license. Now get in."

He got in, followed by Arme, who was still mourning about how unlucky she was. Lass considered himself very lucky, on the other hand. Not only could he get into a worldwide famous school, he was able to get a place to stay inside the school grounds, which were in a big city, tourist magnet, nice weather, long and crowded beaches and everything a High School student could wish for. The only problem was the place to stay itself. A big and old two-floors building with six rooms. The place was technically owned by the school, since it was inside the grounds, but the system in the place was different, so one of the contributors was the actual owner: an old man with a special taste for money, who put the place on to rent saying ENOUGH ROOM FOR TWELVE PEOPLE. _He's only going to get me and Arme for this sorry excuse for a room_. Wrong. There were a total of twelve tenants in the place. When he heard the news, Lass got thunderstruck. _What's wrong with these people? Didn't they visit the damn place? There are SIX ROOMS, for god's sake!_ No use worrying after the contract was signed, though. Deal with it. He knew he had no choice.

Now he was leaving with Arme to such place, wondering what the hell was going to happen in that place. The only good thing about it was that two of his best friends were renting the room too._ Lire and Ronan._ The two of them were in the same school as him and Arme. They knew each other since Middle School, and Ronan was like a brother to Lass.

Heading to another state, he thought. _To a whole new place, in a whole new city, to a whole new life._ Maybe he was being just a little too theatrical.

Wrong, of course. He knew he was wrong. _This is just the beginning. My life starts here._


	2. Dormitory

**Chapter Two == Dormitory**

ONE

4th Lane, 12. 2008

The girl woke up, staring at the ceiling, like almost every day. Almost, I say, because everyone sometimes wakes up looking at the wall or at the pillow. Not that morning. Looking up, she wondered what was so special about that day, why was she so excited. _Am I going to earn a prize today?_ Stupid idea. She never did. She wasn't so smart or good at anything. Also not that beautiful. Or so she liked to think of herself. Some did not agree. Her mind rambling, she did not notice her roommate knocking on the door.

"Hey, Ellie, are you awake?"

Getting no answer, the other girl, the one knocking, opened the door, finding the red haired roommate lying on her bed, looking at the ceiling, with a sparse expression.

"Morning, Elesis." she said, loud enough to make her wake up from her dreams.

"Hey, Mari. Is it too late already?"

"Too late for what? It's Saturday, you probably have nothing to do."

"Saturday?" suddenly, Elesis seemed terrified. "Saturday what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the day?"

"Saturday!" Mari was starting to wonder if Elesis was really awake.

"No, the date!"

"November, 19th in the year of 2008. Are you on drugs?"

Elesis sat up, in an unexplained haste.

"I don't believe I forgot it!"

"Yeah, drugs make you forget stuff." _Don't talk to me about forgetting, you insensitive bitch._ Mari was especially bothered with people talking about forgetting around her. _ It's like taking about running a marathon to a cripple._

Before she was twelve years old, Mari could remember nothing. But, since her 12th birthday, she remembered everything. Everything _indeed_. She just could not forget anything. Not even the smallest detail of the most boring day, every single thing was attached to her mind like marks on a concrete wall. Irremovable. _The perfect memory._ That was her personal curse.

"I'm not on drugs! I just forgot everything!"

"No, you didn't." said Mari, sarcastically. "You remember my name."

"Don't annoy me, Mari, I'm running out of places to hide the bodies." she said, falling back on bed, like falling asleep again.

A knock on the door made them stop arguing. A female voice shouted:

"Thanks for waking me up, dynamic duo. I was wondering if you could have mercy on the others and shout quietly."

Mari turned around and opened the door she just stepped through.

"I guess I could shout quietly, but you would have to teach me."

"Go to hell." Said the blonde girl outside the room. Mari laughed, caught something from a desk and left the room.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going?" Asked Lire, loudly.

"Shout quietly, remember? And I'm going downstairs, why?"

"You know the boys are probably still sleeping." _They only wake up about 1 PM on Saturdays._

"Not all of them."

Lire raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want with Lass?"

"Who said anything about him?" responded Mari, defensively.

"Well, he's most likely the only one up now."

"Now you seem too well informed. Aren't you the one interested, I wonder? Well, I'm going. Good luck remembering, Ellie."

Elesis didn't like that commentary, but ignored it. _I know what I forgot. I just don't believe I did so._ Her job interview was gone. _Congratulations, you idiot. Unless you want to work for HIM, you'll get dumped by the landlord._

Elesis used to be a phone operator to a local TV/internet enterprise, but got fired after a particularly violent reaction to an unhappy costumer. The woman on the phone insisted on saying "I'm not giving you any information on my problem! I want specialized opinions, and you're just a telemarketer". It ended with Elesis shouting at the woman, hanging up the phone and canceling the woman's internet connection. That was in October. Now, she was looking for a new job to pay her rent. She found the perfect opportunity. _The opportunity I just slept over._ Now there was only one option left. The worst option she could think of.

_Sieghart._

Elesis' parents were what some called "young spirits". Elesis liked to call them weak. _People who can't face the fact that time goes by and you get old._ As soon as they had a daughter, fearing that she would break their happy lives, her parents left her to be taken care of by her aunt, mother to a boy called Sieghart. Elesis was 3 when ended up there, and Sieghart was 9. The boy was thrilled with the perspective of having a little sister, and promised he'd do anything for her. Now, 15 years later, Elesis knew that promise made her what she became. _Someone who is incapable of trusting men._

Sieghart always cared about her, but his lack of sense was pitiful. To make things worse, he insisted in showing his love by never, in any circumstances, hiding anything from her or telling her a lie. If she asked things like "Where are my parents?" or "Where did I came from?" she would always get nothing but the truth. When Sieghart turned 18, he took the twelve-year old Elesis to live with him in an apartment. That made the situation for the little girl even worse, because Sieghart (an attractive man, she knew it) always brought his girlfriends to the house. As always, nothing but the truth to his little cousin. He hid nothing from her, about who were those girls, what did he use to do with them in his room, and why sometimes there was more than one of them. Elesis used to say her spirit and self respect were broken at age 13. As soon as she could, and that meant 16 years old, she left to live with a friend in a rented room. The next year, she moved to another place, shared by twelve people, including her old roommate, whose name was Mari.

Now, 18 years old, Elesis lived in that place, number 12 in 4th Lane, inside the grounds of Gekkouka University. Along with eleven other people. She remembered the first day on the place. Twelve people, some already knew each other, but complete strangers among themselves. There were about twenty or so lanes on the surrounds of Gekkouka High, each of them with three buildings. The buildings had many different uses, but on some lanes, they were dorms. There were almost 20 dorms, in total. They were all owned by the school, but they had their "caretakers", contributors whose names were placed on the entrances of the dorms. All dorms, but one. The number 12's caretaker never actually cared about it; therefore, the place was forgotten and summarily ignored until the school demanded the owner to make use of the building. He made it into another dorm, but that was all. _Let the tenants do the clean-up._ When Elesis accepted the contract, she knew nothing about that. She visited the other dorms, conserved and suitable for human inhabiting, and presumed they were all like that. They weren't. When she got to the door of the number 12, she found a place that seemed like untouched for some years, one inch of dust on the floor, the list of tenants attached to the outer wall, and a black-haired guy on the entrance she immediately recognized.

"Sieg? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm a tenant here." he said, smiling suspiciously. "Check the list."

Terrified, she went and checked the list. There he was, _Number 11: Sieghart K. Halberd_. Shaking, she ran her eyes through the list.

_No .1: Elesis A. Winchester_, 17.

_No .2: Mari V. Brautigan_, 17.

_No .3: Lass A. Stronghold_, 17.

_No. 4: Ronan W. Erudon_, 17.

_No. 5: Lire C. Versignassi_, 17.

_No .6: Arme S. Kennedy_, 16.

_No .7: Jin P. Hellmeister_, 17.

_No .8: Victor O. Friedman_, 17.

_ No .9: Amy M. Annedock_, 18.

_No .10: Elena R. Kingreaver_, 23.

_No .11: Sieghart K. Halberd_, 23.

_No .12: Ryan P. Oshiro_, 17.

These were the people of the room. The people that, in that Saturday morning, almost two years later, were still sleeping at midday. Except for Lass, of course. He was always up before the others. He was downstairs and Elesis could hear him listening to "Soldiers of the Wasteland", one of his favorite Dragonforce songs. Mari would soon be there too, and that meant no songs for Lass, at least for a while. _Mari is really the only one that he respects._ Lass wasn't actually a disrespectful person, he just didn't care about little stuff such as respect. Except with Mari. If he offended her, he probably would not eat at home for a month. She was the resident cook of the dorm, and no one liked to go against her, afraid of having to go to McDonald's every single day until she cooled down._ Cool down._ Elesis would probably never cool down again. _I'll have to work with Sieghart. Worse: I'll have to work FOR Sieghart!_

Sieghart's annoyance reached its peak when, suddenly, right after getting a girlfriend (which was Amy), he decided that he was going to get Elesis a boyfriend, and started making her feel ridiculous by "putting his name to consideration". _Why me, out of everyone?_ Of course, afraid of the answer, she would never ask it to him. _I'll have a lot of time around him, anyway._ Sieghart owned a bar, and was trying to convince Elesis to work there since it was found. _Now I have to go and ask him for a job._ Still depressed with that, she got up.

"So, have you actually forgotten something?" asked Lire.

"Yes, but I know what is it." Elesis answered, resigned. "My job interview. It's gone."

"Oh my. What you're going to do now?"

"I have but one choice: Sieg."

"Oh, man. You really _are_ screwed."

"Go give him the news, if you want. He'll probably be really pleased. He may even kiss you…"

"Kiss? No way. Ask Amy to do that."

"Yeah, whatever." Elesis said, leaving the room to the bathroom. After entering, she could not help but to look at her figure in the mirror. A red haired girl with emerald green eyes stared back at her, the concerned look on her face greatly designed in their breath-taking color. Being an eighteen years old girl, Elesis had many attractive points, one of the greatest being her slim and elegant body, perfect, with no lacks or excesses. _I'm not exactly the girl type. Why do I have to look like this?_ She often thought her face was too delicate for her personality. A personality created by many years living with Sieghart, among other unpleasant facts. Sometimes she wondered what she would have become if she hadn't been raised by him. There was only one answer. _A better person, capable of understanding the concept of innocence._ Ignoring the beautiful girl in the mirror, Elesis opened the cabinet and brushed her teeth. After leaving the bathroom, she changed her clothes and went downstairs. Entering the kitchen, she saw Lire, Lass, Mari and Sieghart having breakfast.

"Morning, Lass." she said, calmly.

"Hey." he answered. As calm as her. Lass was rarely altered.

"Morning, my Nemesis." she said, without changing her tone. There was no need to direct the greeting. Sieghart knew she was talking to him.

"Morning, Ellie. How are you today?" he was obviously pleased. Lire told him about the interview, of course. _The little bitch can't or doesn't want to see when I'm not serious._

Ignoring his question, Elesis went to get her something to eat. Feeling unstable, she decided she was better off with just a drink. _I'll work for Sieghart. I'm so fucking dead!_

Later that day, she decided she was going to wait before breaking the news to Sieghart. There was plenty of time before she could no longer stay without paying rent. _I can wait until next year._ Sieghart was not going to fill any blanks he had at the bar, not when he knew Elesis was going to fill it sooner or later.

TWO

Gekkouka University, High School building. November, 24th. 2008

"Erudon, Stronghold! Put that away before I take it from you!"

It was the Geography class, the last before the exam. The teacher was making a quick review of the contents, but Lass and Ronan (who didn't need any review) were playing a very curious game called "Shootout" in Ronan's cell phone. Sighing, Ronan turned the phone off and pretended to pay attention to the class.

"Now that our fellows had the kindness of stop being kids," said the teacher. "I would like to remember you that these exams are your way to make sure that you won't see me and I won't see you during vacation. You may not like it, but you will have to do it, 'cause I won't mind holding some of you to the support classes. Now, these are the dates…"

Ronan felt his mind starting to drift away. _What's with this guy? He just keeps repeating everything I know!_ Before he could notice, there he was thinking about everything but geography. _I'd love to buy a new videogame… Money is always the fucking problem. If only I cou…_

"Isn't it right, Erudon?" said the teacher, loudly.

"Err…"

"Were you listening to me, Erudon?"

"…"

"Do you know what do I think of people like you, Erudon, who think you're smarter than someone who studied for years to get here, in the front of this classroom? I think you are arrogant, rotten, useless, cancers in our school, and I think you should be removed from here. Don't you agree that a cancer doesn't belong in the _corpus_ of this institution, Erudon?"

"Err… No, sir." answered Ronan, cautiously. "I'm not a cancer."

"I think you are, Mr. Erudon." replied the teacher. "I think I'll have to be the guy to operate this institution to remove the cancer you are, Mr. Erudon"

_What is this crap about cancer?_ Ronan decided it was time to improvise.

"But, sir, I thought you were graduated in Social Studies, not in Surgery." he said, suppressing a smile. The class burst in laughs, which ceased at a scream of the teacher.

"You really are a cancer, Erudon, and I will make sure that you are removed. Say goodbye to this place, because I will make sure that you DON'T RETURN NEXT YEAR!" he shouted the last four words, and then grabbed his stuff and furiously left the room.

THREE

"That was awesome!" yelled Jin, enthusiastically. "I thought you were a loser of a teacher, not a surgeon! Ha!"

Ronan was in the corridor, going to the break. Jin, Victor and Lass were laughing and praising him for humiliating a teacher. Arme, although, didn't seem to enjoy the show.

"That wasn't awesome at all. Ronan is almost certainly getting a ridiculous grade in the exams and all because he decided to be funny." said Arme, in a disapproving tone. "Funny also has limits, Ronan!"

"What was I supposed to say? He was coming with all that cancer talk, trying to make fun of me. I wasn't going to say 'Yes, I'm a cancer'!"

"Well, I thought it was genial." said Victor. "In my humble opinion, he deserved it."

"Your humble opinion comes to no concern." interrupted Arme. "It's because people like you do it and congratulates those who do so as well that we have an average of three expellings a year."

"Ah, what the hell. What's wrong in giving a jackass a good old owned?" asked Lass, solemnly. "I'd have done the exact same thing."

"You've done it once, remember?" asked Arme, sarcastically. "Unfortunately, it was with a cop, and you almost got arrested, wasn't it?"

Lass was about to answer, but his words were lost in the usual noise of the courtyard.

"I'll get something to eat, fellows." said Arme. "See you next class."

She disappeared into the crowd, leaving Ronan and Lass alone with Jin and Victor.

"See you, guys." said Jin, leaving as well. Victor followed him.

Lass looked around.

"So, where's Lire?" he asked.

"I don't know. Are you hungry?"

"Not at all. I'll go to the library and stay there. I don't want to watch any Geo class. Who knows if I'm not the next tumor in the school _corpus_…"

"I'm going with you, but we'll have to be back at the next class. If we're not, Lothos will know exactly where to find us." Arianne Lothos was their Physics teacher. She knew Lass, Ronan and Lire from another school, and was very familiar with their class-skipping techniques.

"Fair enough. Ladies first." said Lass, gesturing at the corridor behind him.

"After you." responded Ronan, passing through. Lass was going after him, when they heard a familiar voice.

"Where are you going? The little show in Geo wasn't enough, now you have to skip classes as well?"

They turned around to see Mari, the blue haired girl who lived in the same dorm as them, and was Elesis' roommate. Mari was really cold most of the time, having her rare heart-warming moments of kindness. Very intelligent, she was the first in almost every class, even though Ronan was pretty sure that was partially due to her perfect memory, which he was one of the only to know about. _Must be tough to remember every single thing sometimes._

"Hey I'm not proud of what I did…" began Ronan.

"…and we're going to skip class in the library, okay?" completed Lass. "I don't want to be called 'hepatitis', 'lymphoma' or whatever he decides I am." That comment got a laugh out of Ronan, but Mari's expression didn't change at all. _This girl is Lass' old self._

"Why?" asked Ronan. "Do you want to join us? The more, the merrier"

This time a little smile bended the girl's lips.

"I must say I'm inclined, but I think Mr. Batt would notice three missing students."

"Inclined?" admired Lass. "I must say that's the best we ever got from you! You must be really tired of that ass-face to admit it."

"Oh, come on, Mari. So what if he notices?" argued Ronan. "He won't kick me out of school, much less you, Student Number 1."

"It's not me I'm worried about, Ronan." said Mari.

"Well, too bad. Where's Lire?" asked Ronan.

"Around." answered Mari, darkly.

"Around? What kind of answer is that?"

"Let it go, Ronan." interrupted Lass. "We see her in class."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't tell on us, Mari." said Ronan, leaving.

"Tell Lire where we are, if you see her, okay?" said Lass, before leaving as well.

Ronan and Lass headed straight to the library. Their plan was, actually, simple: Grab some books, hide in an isolated desk and pretend to be working on something. Even if they were to be seen seen, they would just ignore and be ignored. _It's amazing it still works after almost two years._

FOUR

"So, those two are skipping again, are they?" asked Lire.

"There's no helping it." answered Mari. "You know, I seriously think the worst thing Ronan could do in his situation was…"

"Brautigan! Pay attention!" yelled Wesley Batt, Geography teacher, in front of the class. "I think you're the only hope of this class, wouldn't like you to stray, right?"

"Sorry, Mr. Batt" she said, returning her eyes to the front of the class.

She didn't mind being called the class' only hope. It wasn't true, since there were other smart students in there, but no one would come close to her. Maybe Arme, who jumped over a year to be in the same class as her being one year younger, but still Arme had to take effort. Mari didn't. Because of her prodigious memory, high marks were natural. Some students thought she was a genius, but that was fruit of ignorance. Only the people of 4th Lane number 12 knew of her "particular situation".

After Geo class, Lass and Ronan returned, something not surprising at all. It was okay to skip Batt's classes, but, unlike him, the Physics teacher, Lothos, was very close to the students, and especially to the Lass, Ronan and Lire trio. Therefore, when they tried to skip her classes she knew where they would be, and always took the opportunity to make them clean or rewrite something. Taking their usual spots, Lass and Ronan were pretending they were there all along. Lothos came in the room.

"Greetings, brainy well-hung primates." she said, getting some laughs of the class. "First of all, I would like to ask Mr. Ronan Erudon exactly _how_ he managed to be called a cancer by Wesley." the class laughed hard at that one, and Ronan, embarrassed, briefly explained the situation to Lothos. When he got the degree part, it was Lothos' turn to burst into laughs.

"You actually said that?" she asked, laughing.

"Well, yes." answered Ronan. "But I'm not proud of it." he added, quickly.

"Well, you should be. I liked it. Anyway, we should get down to business, because the year is almost over, therefore, you will have tests, and my classes never had a bad mark in second-year middle exams."

The class continued. Some students were paying attention; others were divagating or, as they used to call it in Gekkouka, fishing. Their minds, though, were fishing almost all in the same direction that time.

Because of the many visitors arriving for Christmas and New Year, the Meridiana City Hall offered a huge party in the night of December 31, in the same level of the famous celebrations around the world. Novus Aevum Exspectata it was called, Latin for New Age Welcoming. Some asked why Latin, but the name wasn't important. Last year's party was cancelled due to an unexpected lack of funds, but that was past. Now NAE was back, and the City Hall was assuring it was going to be memorable, to make up for 2007's embarrassment. Because they arrived in the city in 2007, most of the students of the High School Second Year never experienced the NAE, so they were tremendously eager. _The great party in its über version._ It was going to be a thrilling night.

None of them, however, had the slightest idea of exactly how thrilling the night was going to be.

_CHAPTER END_

I already had this chapter finished when I posted the first one. I'll probably never post this fast again. I depend on my inner writer (who is a real asshole) to write, so... No.

And to the fellow awainotsubasa who asked, YES, this is the same one from the forum, and YES, I'm the same TheHellequin from there. It was my personal opinion that putting it here as well would make it (a little) more noticed, and what can someone like me possibly want more than people reading (and hopefully liking) what he writes? Therefore, I stopped my work there and started to refurbish (mostly remove some errors) the story so that it would be exposed here. I'm still not sure wether I'll work on the two places simultaneously or drop one of them. And, just bacause I think it worthy mentioning, I NEVER thought someone would actually recognize this. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, though. Who'd have thought...

See ya.


	3. New Age

**Chapter Three == New Age**

ONE

4th Lane, 12. December 31st, 2008

"Hey, girls! Are you gonna sleep forever?" yelled Jin to the upper floor. "Wake up and come down here, or _I_ will go up _there_ and rape you all!"

Mari showed up, fully dressed and with a disgusted look on her face.

"So vulgar, Jin… I'd like to see you try that out." she said, looking down at him.

"I'm sure you would enjoy it" he responded. "Are the others awake?"

"Some yes, others no. What about you guys?"

"We're all up. Lass, Ronan and Sieg left." said Jin. Mari walked downstairs.

"Where to?" she asked.

"They said something about Wal-Mart. Why?"

"They can't do shopping all by themselves. See you later." she turned and started walking away when someone called out upstairs.

"Wait for me, Mari!" Amy, fully dressed as well, came down running.

"You going too?" asked Jin. "Why the sudden interest in their activities?"

"Well, it may be sudden for her" said Amy, pointing at Mari. "But I'm going because I don't have anything else to do."

"Yeah, right" said Mari, sarcastic. "You're going because Sieghart is there." Amy blushed, but didn't respond. Instead, she said:

"Shall we?"

"Wait! Who is going to wake the other girls up?" asked Jin.

"You." answered Amy, like saying something obvious.

"I'm not going up there. They'd cut off my _cojones_." Jin was especially scared of Arme.

"Weren't you going to rape them all? Go for it, Rambo. I'm out." she left, followed by Mari.

On their way out, Mari and Amy passed through the stone block on the grass outside the building. On that block was usually engraved the name of the building's caretaker, but since number twelve's residents said their room had no caretaker, Jin decided to name the place by his ways. One night, they went to bed and the stone was as plain as a white board. The next morning, there were two words engraved on it: THE CORPORATION. There were day-long discussions about that, but everyone ended up agreeing that was a good name for the place. They still referred to it as "Inc." or "The Corporation".

Going to Wal-Mart, the girls noticed how excited the city was. The people were only talking about one thing: the New Age. The excitement could be felt in the air, like electricity. Mari wasn't really fond of parties, but even she got herself wondering about the NAE sometimes. _Is it really going to be that much of an event?_ She didn't know. All she knew was that the City Hall would have a really hard time to live up to the people's expectations. _Otherwise, they're all going to face an immense anti-government movement._

TWO

"Mari? Amy? What are you doing here?" asked Ronan.

The Wal-Mart was unpleasantly crowded. Lass, Sieghart and Ronan were finding it hard to walk around with their shopping cart, which contained nothing but a lot of nachos and beer.

"We came to see what were you guys taking back to The Corporation." said Amy. "It seems like we made the right move." She indicated the cart. "Is this all you're taking? Nachos and alcohol?"

"What else do we need?" responded Sieghart.

"We…" answered Lass, suddenly. "…need other drinks. That's why I was trying to pull this thing" he indicated the cartridge. "…to the drinks' hallway."

"Oh, yeah? Then what do you suggest?" asked Ronan.

"Wine! Tequila! Whis…"

"Enough!" yelled Amy. "You didn't come here to build a freaking cellar and fill it with alcohol. You came here because we have nothing to eat!"

"Besides…" concluded Mari. "You will have plenty of alcohol tonight."

Defeated, Sieghart took the cart and set out to put the beer and nachos (or most of it) back to its places.

"Now, shall we do this right?" asked Amy.

"Okay, then." said Lass. "Where do we begin, miss?"

"I don't know about you guys. I need to maintain my figure so no beer to Me." she responded.

"Idiocy." retorted Lass. "Exercise and diet, and you still die."

Feeling a fight ready to begin, Mari intervened.

"Sieg is coming back." she said, pointing at him. "Stop arguing and pay attention to what we need."

"Yeah, might as well begin with some anti-drunkenness medicine…" said Ronan.

"What for?" asked Sieg, approaching. "Half the fun is to see how drunk can you get."

"Yeah, but what about hangovers?" responded Ronan.

"I avoid hangovers by staying always drunk"

"Bullshit. Are you drunk now?"

"I may be!"

"_SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!_" yelled Amy, getting some glares from the crowd. "Sieg, you're not drunk! Ronan, if you want medicine, go get it yourself! The rest, please, be rational and come with me so that we can get our shit and get out!"

"What's so wrong, cutie?" asked a man, laughing with the group that surrounded him.

"The only thing wrong…" said Sieghart, calmly. "…is you hitting on my girlfriend, idiot. Now beat it."

The guy looked at Sieghart, apparently measuring if he could beat him in a fight, but shortly after sighed and with a "Sure, whatever." left.

"You were welcome." Sieghart said, looking at Amy. She merely smiled and turned back to her shopping.

"Nice attitude, street fighter." whispered Lass at him, after they began moving again. "What would that guy do if he knew you can't beat even me?"

"You're a totally different case." said Sieghart. "You rely on your painlessness."

"Ha! That's a good one." laughed Lass. "I have a disease, that's why you can't beat me? The last time, you lost because you couldn't keep up with me. Black belts aren't useless, eh?"

Lass hastened his steps, leaving Sieghart behind, and still laughing.

"Get your shit and get out." reflected Sieghart. "This should be Wal-Mart's next slogan."

THREE

"Back at last! How was shopping?" asked Elesis. "Did Sieghart find any immaculate and pure souls to corrupt?"

Sieghart sighed and answered:

"I think 'Welcome back' would have been just fine. Why can't you treat me like a human being?"

"Because human beings don't feed on the minds of the innocent." Elesis answered.

Ignoring another Elesis-Sieghart dilemma, Lass walked through them and left his plastic bags on the floor. Leaving the others in the entrance hall, Lass went to his room, which he shared with Ronan. There were six rooms in The Corporation, three downstairs, three upstairs. In the very first day that the twelve of them got there, almost one and a half years ago, the girls banded together and officially banned the six guys from the upper floor. There was a door right in front of the stairs, on the second floor, that was established as the farthest the men could go. There were three locks on that door. Lass and Ronan's room was room number two, the closest to the stairs.

Lass entered the room. It was small (the bigger rooms were upstairs, therefore, out of reach), and the two beds were as far away from each other as the space allowed. Lass dropped himself on his bed, after checking, as usual, if there was anything sharp or dangerous left there. Because of his disease, he would hardly notice if he sat on a needle or the sort. He had a lot of scars all over his body because of this disease, all reminders of small accidents, like picking up something really hot and not noticing, or cutting himself with his own nails. He looked around, at his things. He had no cell phone, which he considered a useless technology. The things he had the most were CD's. As a metal addict, he had everything from the old Black Sabbath to the newborns Demon Hunter and Black Tide. He wasn't the only metal listener in the place: Ronan and Elesis were just as much of an addict as himself.

_Elesis._

She was his polar opposite, in terms of personality, even with their similar musical taste. Lass was known to be cold (not Mari cold, but still pretty introspective), even if he had improved a lot his social abilities with the years, mostly thanks to the dead Sarah Kennedy. Elesis, on the other hand, even with her depressing childhood story (living alone with Sieghart for many years being only one factor), had a very warm and outgoing style to herself, even though being a little rude sometimes. Lass often wondered if it was due to this opposition of their personalities that he was so attracted to her. _Attraction of opposites._ A basic knowledge of Physics.

When he first arrived to that place, which was nameless at the time, he didn't have any special interest in any of the girls. After a while, though, Lass got to know the others better, and was able to basically "map" their personalities. And when he did so, his feelings drifted slowly (and against his will) to Elesis. He got himself thinking more and more of her. At first he thought of feeding this attraction, but in the end, he decided to encapsulate these feelings and keep them at bay in his mind. That decision itself was very unusual of him, since he always tried to have something with the girls he liked, but that was somewhat different. There was no reason in his decision of forgetting about Elesis. _I just can't have her. Live with it._ That attraction, though, didn't stop him from, along with Ronan, become one of the most (in)famous womanizers of Gekkouka U. Another factor to tear him even farther away from Elesis. _To her, I must be really despicable._

Someone knocked on his door.

"Hey, Lass. I know you're in there." said a male voice. Lass recognized Ryan's voice.

"What do you want?"

"Come out here. Elena's got something she wants you to do."

Sighing, Lass got up. Elena was a University student, along with Sieghart, and unlike himself, who was still in High School. If he was not mistaken, Elena was taking the graduation course of Psychology, and Sieghart was doing Administration. Lass just couldn't see Sieghart with formal clothing, but he seemed to be serious about it. _Good for him, _he thought, before leaving the room. Elena was actually waiting for him in the hall. When she saw him, she smiled and greeted him with a cheerful "Good morning". High spirits as always. _I wonder where do these optimistic people see such a bright and happy world._

"Ryan said you needed me. For what?" he asked.

"Nothing too big." answered Elena. "I was wondering if you could go out and find Victor for me. We need everyone here to know when we'll do _it._"

It. _It_ was something they were planning on doing on NAE. In the exact moment of midnight, there was a huge fireworks presentation. The big gathering of people, though, made it hard to see the explosions and flashes. To avoid this, the people of The Corporation decided that, at a certain moment of the night, they would meet up and go to a nearby hilltop, where they could see the presentation clearly. They still had to figure out the details, like when and where to meet, and how to cross the police line that was obviously going to be there when they tried to go up the hill.

"I'll do it." said Lass, resigned. He had an idea where to find Victor, anyways…

"Great!" said Elena. "I'll be waiting."

Lass turned away and left The Corporation. _So, _he thought, _it is tonight._

FOUR

The night came.

The Meridiana Park was ready.

The Meridiana Park was the largest open area of the city, except for the beach itself. An area of about twelve square kilometers, of which one and a half was covered by water. There were many paths and bicycle roads inside, but they all led to the main courtyard, which had an obelisk right in the middle of it, about twenty or thirty meters tall. That central area was surrounded half by trees, half by the lake. About half a mile away from that courtyard, there was the hill, the one that was the protagonist of The Corporation's people's plans. There were many hills in the Park, but none of them were as high as this one, which was roughly sixty meters tall.

The main courtyard was all set for the huge celebration about to happen there. There were tents, many different tents, serving many different purposes, like selling food, drinks, or any other goods found in a party like that. There was a stage, where many bands, famous and not that famous, were playing up until the next morning. Vendors, kiosks, toilets, many small roads leading to smaller courtyards. Lights almost everywhere, except where they were not supposed to be, like those courtyards decorated especially for couples (which had lights, but not so many). The front entrance of the Park had a war-level blockade, to search people's pockets or bags, and the main road to the center was fully illuminated, with lights of different colors and an exquisite decoration. All set. At seven o'clock there are already people in there. The group coming from The Corporation, those twelve whose names were put on a list and hanged on the door of 4th Lane, number 12, one and a half years ago, arrives half an hour later.

In that moment, in another universe, the entity called Kaze'Aze opened her third eye, for the first time in more than two thousand years.

FIVE

Lire looked at the entrance of Meridiana Park, and, for a second, she thought she was seeing it for the first time. It was almost glowing with its own light.

There were countless people entering the park as well, and that made Lire feel somewhat really small. _So many people in this world and some still think themselves so important._ Like most of the people in Meridiana right now, Lire knew that the NAE wasn't only in that park. On the beach, many stages were built as well. Throughout the city, there were many spots, like squares and other parks, which were gathering people as well. _NAE isn't only this park. It is this whole city._ In that night, celebration was everywhere.

"I still think we should have gone to the beach." complained Victor. "There'll be party and all these stuff down there too."

"But the main event is here." answered Ryan. "And what's the fun if we're not in the middle of the action?"

"Damn right!" yelled Jin. "Besides, we can't do _it_ down on the beach."

Defeated, Victor changed the topic:

"So, it'll be eleven and a half, right?"

"Yup." answered Lire.

"And there's no possibility for us to stay and watch the show with everyone?"

"Nope."

"Why is that?"

"Because, down there, with everyone, there'll _be_ no watching the show. There'll be fighting to keep your damn feet on the ground." intervened Lass. "Besides, the hilltop is not so far away, and we can see both the show and the people from there. You'll see I'm right."

"Stop worrying about it." said Elesis. "We're still far from eleven."

That said, they entered the immense park. After the usual police search, they followed the crowd along the main way. All the way, Lire didn't say a thing, amazed by the beauty of the lights and the decoration. The stones on the ground were all leveled, there was no garbage on the grass, and the stone pillars were all covered by small crystals hanged on a string, which deflected the colored lights in breath-taking hues and shades.

Almost ten kilometers away from Meridiana Park, a small room shone with a weak light when, finally, after so long, the Ksifos toy Exthroy woke up to fulfill its long waited destiny.

SIX

If you've ever been to a party, especially a very good one, you'll know that, sooner or later comes a point where you don't remember much of it. Only those isolated facts that were meaningless and, still, were attached to you. After the second hour, this point came to The Corporation….

… Sieghart could remember cheering and praising a band whose music he didn't even like before…

… Lass could remember running from a cop because he was picking a fight in the middle of the courtyard along with Ronan, Jin and Ryan…

… Ronan could remember drinking a mixture of almost ten different drinks to win a challenge…

… Lire could remember yelling at someone she'd never seen just because she wanted to scream really loudly…

… Jin could remember trying to catch a damn fish because he could swear that, if he did so, the fish would be carrying a thousand dollars…

For Mari, though, that party was something else, almost out of earth. It was the first time in her whole life she actually forgot something…

And, for that whole time, Kaze'Aze was preparing to make her move.

SEVEN

"Come on, Jin; that was just a fish…"

"I know!" said Jin. "After that damn medicine of yours, I know! I must have been looking really ridiculous trying to catch a fish…"

"You were." confirmed Ronan.

"What time is it?" asked Lass.

"It is, Lass, exactly eleven and twenty."

"So" he said. "We should be on our way to the meeting."

They went to the combined place, and when they got there, they saw everyone was already there.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Elena.

"This guy right here." said Ronan. "He was so high he was trying to catch a fish."

"For what?"

"I thought there were a thousand box inside that thing." said Jin, resigned.

They all laughed at that. After that, they made their own move. Half a mile or so away from the main courtyard, they found the hill. There weren't so many watchers as they thought, so it was easy to cross the no-trespass line. They got to the top exactly at eleven fifty-three.

"About time." said Victor. "What now?"

"Now we wait." answered Arme.

They did so. And exactly at eleven fifty-five, a bell ringed somewhere. The sign to begin the preparation for the moment of the Universal Fraternization. After what seemed like five hours, instead of five minutes, the countdown began.

FIVE!

Everyone looked up, eager to see the fireworks.

FOUR!

The mayor was on the stage, holding up a cup and counting with the people.

THREE!

On the hilltop, The Corporation was counting down with the people in the courtyard.

TWO!

In the middle of the crowd, someone yelled a loud "Hell yeah!"

ONE!

Everyone raised their cups or empty hands.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

In that moment, many things happened.

There was a huge roar from the crowd, accompanied by The Corporation, half a mile away. At the same time the fireworks began, and, among them, there was a small point of pure white light, like a completely new star, born in the skies above Meridiana.

That small point of light started to grow, bigger and more brilliant, until it was outshining the fireworks around it. People were wondering what was that, if it was a firework. Whatever it was, it was really outshining even the stars and the moon, and the other fireworks around it were also being outshined…

A second later, Lire noticed the fireworks were not being outshone. They were being swallowed. And the new star, growing ever bigger, was no longer white: it was becoming dark, darker than the night sky behind it. Then, all of the sudden, it exploded.

Immediately, the sky above them became like those black hole pictures, a maelstrom of lights and shadows, moving faster than anything Lire had ever seen. The effect was astonishing. Roughly one second later, the concussion hit them, like an immense fist striking the earth from above. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt Lire; it was more like a wave of vibrating energy that made her shake all the way down to her bones. The wind began to blow, strong like a tornado. Lire looked around, to see if the others felt the same as her. Her gaze fell firstly upon Elesis. But, whoever the person in front of her was, it was not Elesis. It was a goddess.

It was like someone captured Elesis' basic traces and remade her face, removing all kinds of deformities and accenting the angles of her face, making her look both divinely beautiful and somewhat feline, dangerous. Lire looked at the others. Almost the same transfiguration had occurred in all of them. Amy was even more beautiful than her normal, and her pink hair was vibrant, almost alive. Fearing what she might see, Lire turned her gaze upon the guys. The first she saw was Lass. He always looked kind of pale, with his white hair and the fair skin, but now he definitely looked like another man. His skin was paper white, and his hair wasn't white anymore, but silver-like. Sieghart, normally quite attractive, was like the figure of a hero of a long lost past. Lire wondered how did _she_ look like, but found herself afraid of what she might see. Engulfed by the roaring wind, but still clear, Arme's voice was heard.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled.

No one could answer. Lire looked at the crowd down in the courtyard, and a second shock came. The people were trying to run from another crowd; this second one was made not of people, but of savage looking creatures, who were carrying what, at that distance, looked like wooden clubs. Along with the wind, the screams began to come. Lire watched, in shock, one of these creatures lower its club on a woman's head. She thought she could hear the crack of the skull, smashed into a thousand pieces. All around the courtyard, the people were being slaughtered. It looked like a horror movie.

"Lire, we have to go!" yelled someone.

Lire looked around, to find Elesis, still transformed, pulling on her arm. Still dazed, Lire followed her. The others were moving too. Amy was being carried by Sieghart and Victor, apparently weaken out. Out of nowhere, a voice yelled:

"Stay where you are!"

They all froze, looking around to see who was screaming. What they saw was worse than anything they could imagine: they were surrounded by about ten of those creatures. They had a scaled green skin, and were wearing pieces of armor, like helmets and chest plates, apparently made of heavy iron. They were carrying clubs as well, and Lire noticed two of them carrying hammers that were almost as big as her.

"Oh, fuck, we're gonna die!" yelled Victor. One of the creatures, a particularly big one, raised its hammer, preparing to smash Arme to the ground. The girl yelled, terrified, looking straight into the face of death. With a roar, the creature slashed its hammer downwards. Lire closed her eyes, thinking herself unable to see what would come next.

The blow, though, never landed.

When Lire opened her eyes, there was someone standing between the creature and Arme. This someone, who had just stopped the hammer with his (or her) bare hands, was wearing a shining, full-body red armor, and there was a sword sheathe in the armor's belt. The armored figure hit the immense green creature straight in the chest with his elbow. Considering the creature's size, Lire would see that as insanity, but there was a sound like a small explosion and the creature was launched into the air, landing about ten meters away. Almost at the same time, the red warrior was already on top of the creature, his sword unsheathed. There was a slash and the creature's head flew off. The dark red blood bathed the floor, some of it splashing on the direction of the armored warrior.

The warrior didn't seem to notice. He disappeared, and, almost at the same time, another explosion-like sound was heard and another creature was busted in the air, falling at an equally unbelievable distance. This one's head was completely smashed, helmet and everything. The other creatures seemed to notice the dangerous warrior, but he/she was too fast for them: moving away from the circle of creatures, the red warrior's voice was heard above the wind's roar.

"Καταστρεπτικές πνεύματα της γης, συγκεντρώνονται στην εντολή μου, ανακινείται το εύθραυστο πέτρες/Katastreptikes pneumata tis gis, sugkentronontai stin entole mou, anakineite to euthrausto petres!"

Lire felt the ground below her vibrating dangerously, as the armored figure raised his/her hand:

"Μεγάλη Διατάραξη/MEGALE DIATARAXE!"

A powerful earthquake, apparently out of nowhere, stroked the Hill. Lire heard trees falling in the distance. The quake, along with the unstoppable wind, ended up making all of them fall to the ground, humans and creatures. Making use of his/her time, the armored figure moved again, faster than Lire's eyes could follow, and, before she could say "What the hell", the green creatures were all dead. The warrior appeared in front of them, the red armor stained with the blood, the shining sword blackened by it.

"Did any of you get hurt?" yelled the armored figure.

Dazed, they shook their heads.

"Good. Follow me." ordered the armored figure. Still shocked, they followed their savior. When they got to what looked like a police station, the red warrior opened the door and said:

"Go in."

They got in, and the warrior closed the door behind them, placing a chair against it. After that, the figured in the red armor turned to them and removed its helmet. A third shock struck Lire: she was looking at the face of Arianne Lothos.


	4. The Earth

**Chapter Four == The Earth**

ONE

"Now listen." began Lothos. "I don't have much time here; I got to help the other people. Just stay here and you'll be fine."

"Wait!" said Ronan, breaking out of his dazed state. "Lothos? How'd you…"

"All your questions will be answered in due time." she interrupted. "Right now, I have to go."

That said, Lothos left swiftly by a small window that, seconds before, Lass would have sworn no human could go through. He looked at Ronan and noticed they were still "transformed". Amy, back to her senses, verbalized what they were all thinking:

"What the hell is going on?" she looked around. "Why do we look like this?"

No one answered. Everyone seemed busy analyzing the others as all as themselves. Lass looked at the girls, critically. _Looking like that, they would be attacked on the streets. _Each of them was unbelievably beautiful, each in their own way. Approaching a mirror, Lass looked at his own image. He never used such word to refer to any individual of the male gender, including himself, but the only one word that could describe him right now was _handsome_. His hair (subject to jokes since Lass could remember) wasn't just plain white anymore, but silver-colored. His face was different, kind of sublime. Ronan, as much changed as Lass, joined him silently in front of the mirror. Looking at himself, he said:

"Man, how I'd like to look like this normally."

"Yup." said Lass.

All of the sudden, the roaring wind began to calm down and, after a minute or so, completely stopped.

"Do you think Lothos made it stop?" asked Victor.

"I don't think so." said Mari. "Whatever it was, its strength seems to have exhausted."

"What were those things killing people out there?" asked Arme.

No one answered to that one either. Silently, they fell to the floor and waited. None of them seemed even remotely eager to comment what just happened. The people dying. The near-death experience. After almost ten minutes, Lothos reappeared.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked.

"What was that thing on the sky?" asked Mari, heated.

"That was a Dimensional Wound, a magically created gate to cross dimensions."

Mari didn't seem to believe. Sieghart was the next to make a question, equally irritated.

"Why are we like this?"

"That" said Lothos. "…I still don't know."

"Why did you bring us here?" asked Amy.

"To keep you safe."

"Why us?"

"Because you were the only ones to transform."

Amy fell in silence. They remained quiet for some time, looking at each other. Lothos was the one to break the silence.

"We have to go. The police will be arriving soon."

"The police was already here." said Ronan.

"Those who were here were killed." responded Lothos.

"What were those creatures?" asked Arme, terrified.

"Orcs. One of the races of the All-World."

"Orcs?" said Jin, skeptically. "Like those things from those online games?"

"Please, any other questions you have will be answered, if I know how to answer them, but right now we have to go."

"Where to?" asked Ryan.

"Gekkouka U. of course." said Lothos.

"Why there?" asked Ryan, immediately. "Why, in the middle of an attack, go to a school?"

"It's the safest place around, trust me."

"Trust you?" exclaimed Jin. "I don't even know who the heck you are!"

"And I just saved your lives. Come with me, I didn't save you to kill you right after!"

Recognizing her argument, they began to get up but, before leaving, Sieghart asked:

"Are we going to walk around like this?"

"Like this how exactly?" asked Lothos.

"Looking like this. I don't usually look like this."

"Apparently yes." said Lothos, turning around to keep walking. Lass decided to make another question.

"Are we just gonna walk out of the place, in the middle of the trouble?"

"The trouble is only here." said Lothos. "Out there in the other places, they're still partying. All we need to do is to get out of the park unnoticed. Come with me, I know a place."

The Corporation followed Lothos and, soon after, they were leaving Meridiana Park and walking into the street. Lothos had covered her armor with what looked like a cape with a hood, but still Lass noticed how many looks they were attracting, especially the girls. Many times they were called to join local celebrations and gatherings. Lass was surprised to see that Lothos was actually right. The rest of the town didn't notice at all what happened in the park. If he was right, it would probably come out on the morning's Breaking News, as a gang fight or a random attack of some drunken people. Lothos most likely didn't leave the corpses of the orcs there for the cops. It occurred to him to ask:

"How many people died?"

Lothos looked at him for a moment, before answering.

"About thirty or forty, I think."

"What did you do with the orcs?"

"I killed them and burned the bodies." she said. Lass was astonished by her capability of saying that so coldly. The Lothos he knew wasn't a cold assassin like that woman. Arianne Lothos was a good person, in general terms.

"Are we going to walk all the way there? Gekkouka U. is far from the Park, almost out of town." asked Elesis.

"I'm not going to walk. Time is short." said Lothos. "Stop here, we're far enough."

"Hey, you're going to do that magic thing again?" asked Ronan, apparently terrified.

"Yes. It will lead us to my room, in Gekkouka U."

"I'm not going!" he responded, nervous.

"Yes, you are." said Lothos, calmly. "You can't stay here. Besides, you're already inside the transportation circle."

"WHAT?" yelled Ronan, jumping along with everyone. They noticed, all at once, that they were inside a very curious circle, full of suspect-looking symbols and letters, drew with some kind of silver paint on the floor. Ryan was the first to try to run for it. Consequently, the first to hit an invisible wall and fall straight to the floor.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, thunderstruck.

"Let us out!" shouted Sieghart, trying to punch Lothos. After seeing her throw a three meters tall creature into the air, Lass thought that was a very stupid thing to do. Lothos easily held Sieghart's fist.

"You can't stay here." she said again, holding Sieghart's hand as if it was not even there. "We have to go."

Sieghart pulled his hand away from her grip, looking at her with a horrified look.

"How the hell can you be so strong?" he asked.

"If you come with me, you may end up knowing." said Lothos, mysteriously. "You may not like the answer, though."

With that mysterious note, Lothos raised her hand once again. This time, looking closer, Lass saw some illegible indentations around her fingers and up to the middle of her arm. They were shining with a remote red light, like a fire lit far beneath her skin was sending its light through the marks. The circle beneath them started to shine too, but its light was bright and blue.

"Δίδυμο Πύλες: Μεταφορά! / Didumo Púles: Metafora!"

At first, Lass thought it had gone wrong. But then, the scenery around them began to change; more specifically, to distort, like a piece of cloth twisted by someone. A hole opened, and Lass, amazed, noticed there was something on the other side. As the hole grew bigger, he recognized it as a living room, probably in Lothos' house. _Is this really a teleportation gate?_ Soon after, the hole stopped growing.

"Go in." said Lothos, surprising Lass: he had forgotten she was there. Everyone else seemed astonished as well, when Lothos' voice woke them up. "Go on, I can't keep this opened forever!"

Looking around, Lass saw exactly what he expected: no one wanted to be the first to cross that thing. Sighing, he moved towards it. He raised his foot and passed through the hole, which now was as big as a window. One second, he was on the street, feeling the wind and listening to the parties all around the city. The next second, he was standing inside a shining blue circle on the floor of the most incredible room he ever visited. Its walls were made of stone. There were beautiful windows, decorated with paintings of events he did not know. All around him, the furniture was similar to that of an old castle, with wooden tables, beautiful armchairs and a really comfortable-looking couch. At the same time, there were objects he recognized, such as a really big television and a stereo. All the place was lighted by a beautiful chandelier, whose lamps had their light reflected by the small crystals around the piece. There were many strange paintings on the walls, and the floor was almost all covered by a carpet, decorated with exquisite indentations. There were five doors around the room, all of them made of massive wood and beautifully engraved. Immediately, Lass thought of Gekkouka's older buildings, which were made of stone. Then, Lass remembered there were no windows like those in any of those buildings. They could be anywhere but Gekkouka U.

There was no time to wonder where he was, though. His attitude of crossing the gate seemed to have inspired courage into the others, who were now coming after him. He barely had time to get away from the circle on the floor, when Ronan came through the hole. After him came Elena, followed by everyone else, crossing one by one the hole. Lothos closed the line and, when she crossed, the hole closed behind her, making the reality plain and normal again.

"We're all here?" asked Lothos, looking around.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" asked Lass. He seemed to be the only one capable of speaking. The others were still looking around the place, amazed.

"Technically, we're in Gekkouka U." answered Lothos, apparently entertained.

"Technically?" he asked, suspiciously. _If technically, we're in GU, then where are we practically?_

"I've never seen these windows in the university. Anywhere." stated Arme. Lass thought she would notice as well. Arme, just like him, was perfectly able to look around the corner. Lothos opened a playful smile.

"Come with me." she said.

TWO

Lothos walked to one of the doors, holding her laughter. She knew that even the cold Mari would have the biggest surprise of her life when she opened that door and led them outside. She was right. In the second the left the room, all of them held their breaths at once. The landscape before them was unbelievable.

They were on a balcony, outside a castle-fashioned mansion, which was built on the top of a rock. Right below them, the ground fell about three hundred feet to meet the sea that smashed against the exposed stone. To their right, there was a long bank which ended at a white-sanded beach. Going inland, there was a forest, that occupied all of the back of the house, where was the entrance. To their left, there was the slope of a mountain, whose top was occupied by a pharos. Outside, in the real world, it was more than midnight. Inside that paradisiacal place, it was still at sunrise.

Lothos looked at the twelve from The Corporation. They were still transformed (she could only guess when would that go away) and, even with that stupefied look on their faces, each one of them was as beautiful as a supermodel. None of them seemed to be able to talk, so she decided to begin once again.

"So, what do you think?"

The first to wake up was Elesis. She looked at Lothos as if she was just noticing the woman was there.

"What… what… do we…"

"Where are we?" demanded Sieghart.

"You're in my place." said Lothos, smiling.

"It can't be." stated Lire immediately. "You live in Gekkouka U. I'm sure of it!"

"That's where we are." responded Lothos, still smiling.

"No it's not!" exclaimed Lire. "Look around! This looks more like some Caribbean paradise island."

"Indeed, that's what I asked when I bought it."

"Bought what?"

"This." said Lothos, simply, waving at the scenery. "All of this is a parallel reality, created by a spell, or probably a whole lot of them. It is, actually, a small glass sphere I have on top of my desk, out there in my room in the building of the Physics Institute, in Gekkouka. I come here once in a while, when I need to, let's say, disappear."

They seemed to be terribly lost. _I don't blame them_, thought Lothos. That was their first contact with the world behind the curtain. It was a heavy load. Lothos gave them some time to absorb the information and, after ten minutes, she said:

"May we come in?"

One by one and still too amazed to say anything, they got back into the room. In the moment that Lothos closed the door behind them, their amazement seemed to lose its effect. All at once, they started shouting. Their words got lost in the noise.

"SHUT IT!" yelled Lothos. Once they were quiet (but still looking extremely upset) she completed. "One at the time, please."

Lass didn't waste a single second.

"Where exactly are we?" he asked, loudly and angrily.

"Inside what some call 'stationary' and others call 'timeless orb', but they all mean the same: it's a magical orb, with a random location placed inside it. It is made with many complicate spells and requires a _lot_ of energy and handiwork to be done, and that's why, I think, it's so expensive. Looking from outside, it looks like a mere decorative item. This particular stationary we're in is placed on my desk, in Gekkouka U."

"What is this magic you said?" asked Jin.

"The correct term is soulcraft. It's the usage of the energy contained in one's soul to dominate reality, and change the existing things."

"Soulcraft?"

"Correct."

"You said parallel reality." said Mari. "What's with this talk? I think reality is only one."

"Then you think wrong." answered Lothos.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you everything I know, Mari Brautigan. Not if you're an outsider." said Lothos, shaking her head. "All of you are outsiders."

"Outsiders?" exploded Jin. "What the hell? Are we not transformed into some good-looking freaks? We saw you shake the ground with a handful of weird words! We just crossed a hole that led us to a goddamn _island!_ Doesn't that count?"

"No." said Lothos, firmly. "All you've seen and heard up until now is nothing. If I'm going to tell you everything, I must do so under your full consent, and you must be ready to hear it. The truth may be a heavy burden indeed."

"But…" began Amy.

"Enough." interrupted Lothos. "I shall leave you alone here for one hour. Think about it, but think it really deeply. Do you really want to know? If you don't, you may go, no strings attached. But if you do, then I'll tell you everything."

"Everything about what?" asked Amy, weakly.

"About the Earth. About creation. I _do_ have the answer to many so-called spiritual questions, those who have no answer. If you decide that you are in, you will know. But, once in, there is no way back. There's no retirement. You will be attached and, most importantly, you will acknowledge me as your master and your guide. That means you will do as I say."

"What will you ask from us?" asked Ryan, aggressively.

"As I said, you'll be my students. I'll teach you to fight like I fought back there against the orcs. I will teach you to do what most people would call 'magic'. I'll make you powerful. I will make you _zannoinen_."

The silence that came after that was one of the most uncomfortable of Lothos' (long) life. After a minute, she turned around.

"I'll be outside." That said, Lothos left.

THREE

The wooden door closed with a bump. They all looked around, still feeling really dazed. One by one, they dropped on chairs, pillows or the floor itself. Elesis, looking around, noticed that all of them were considering their options. Leave or stay? Sieghart was the first to speak, his tone surprisingly firm.

"I'm staying." Everyone looked at him.

"Why?" asked Amy.

"I want to know."

"You want to know? That's all?" Amy looked rather uncomfortable, even sitting on a large pillow.

"Yes. Back there, when she –" he indicated the door from which Lothos left. "– held my punch, I punched with all my strength, but she held it like it was nothing. I wanna know how she can be strong like that."

"I think we should vote if we stay or go." suggested Lire. "Like this, either way it will be fair."

"I'm staying. I've already said so." affirmed Sieghart.

"I will stay too." stated Lass, also quite firmly. "I'm really curious about all this."

"I'm _not_ staying." said Amy. "Unless every single one votes against me. I don't like the look of this magic stuff."

"I will stay." confirmed Lire. "How am I supposed to just leave after seeing this place?"

"I won't leave either." said Ryan. "I'm really curious about this whole affair."

"Curious?" asked Amy, her voice really high. "Do you guys think curiosity is a good excuse to trust a complete stranger enough to call her 'master'?"

"Enough, Amy." said Elesis. "We have already noticed you're against it. Now, everyone, raise your hands those in favor of leaving now."

Amy was the first to raise her hand, followed shortly after by Jin and Arme.

"See?" said Amy, still really high-voiced. "I'm not the only one who didn't like this."

"It's not that I didn't like it." said Arme, hesitantly. "I'm… eh… k-kind of… afraid."

"Okay." said Elesis. "Can I presume that everyone else votes for staying?"

Everyone nodded, some firmly, others (like Elena) hesitantly. Amy looked around, as if she had just noticed she was surrounded by a bunch of insane people.

"I… Jin, Arme, what about you? Will you accept this?" she asked, hysterically.

"Well, yes. We agreed to go with the voting. We have voted to stay." said Jin, abnormally serious. Arme made no mention to speak. Amy looked around some more, before lowering her head in defeat.

"I see everyone is against me. As I said, in such condition, I will accept. But –" she added, before anyone else could speak. "– I don't do so willingly. I'm against this whole thing. Let that be clear. If it all goes wrong, I will be the one to say 'I told you so'."

After that, Amy fell in silence. Elesis, taking the lead again, said:

"So, we stay. Do… ah… everyone agree?" Lass, Ronan, Sieghart and Mari nodded firmly. Elesis took that as a yes. "Okay…"

They waited in a dead silence the rest of their hour to pass. After what seemed like a whole year, the beautiful wooden door opened and Lothos, now wearing what looked like a _kimono_, red and punctuated by flower-like decorations, came in. She looked long and calmly to each one of them, taking a particularly long time at Lire. After that, she said:

"Have you made up your minds?"

There was a long pause before Elesis said "Yes.". Lothos looked at her intensely and asked:

"So, what will it be?"

Elesis took a deep breath, and the words she said after that seemed to have an immense weight attached to them.

"We will stay and hear what is there to hear."

Lothos opened a large, satisfied smile.

"That means you all agree to recognize me as your master?"

One by one, all of them said yes. Amy took a little longer than the others. Lothos seemed to have noticed that, but decided to let it go.

"Fine, then." she said, merrily. "Now you are my students!"

"We want answers." said Lass, firmly. The others agreed.

"Then, you shall have them." said Lothos. "What do you want to know?"

FOUR

There was silence for a moment. Once again, Elesis was the first to speak:

"You said 'I have answers to answerless questions'. Explain."

"You know what I mean. Did you ever wonder how did the world begin? Who created it? Well, up to a certain level, I have those answers."

"So does any religion out there." said Mari, critically.

"I can prove." answered Lothos. Mari didn't respond to that.

"Explain. And then prove." demanded Elesis.

"As you wish."

Lothos drew a deep breath and started explaining.

"In the beginning, there was chaos. According to the Greek mythology, that is. Like in many things, the Greek were right about this as well. Before anything existed, there was energy, and nothing else. Out of someone or something, however, order existed. Some refer to this creator as God, others call it Buddha, but they all mean the same. It is a fact, though, that this creator is not among us. There are other ways to keep order in the existing world, except keeping it yourself. First of all, the Old World was created. This one is the basis of everything else, and the 'generator' of all the energy that flows through existence.

"After the Old World was created, the energy was condensed, and the thirty-two Strings were made, so that the energy created inside the Old World would flow through them. Pure energy, however, is like an air mass. It carries the configuration of the places it has been, taking these characteristics along with it. Along the thirty-two Strings, countless worlds were generated by the condensing of the energy. They were all similar to the first world, the Old World, where they all came from it. And, on the other extremity of existence, there was the All-World. Since it was placed so that all of the Strings would end at it, the All-World received all of the energy coming from everywhere. That's why, in the All-World, almost everything exists. What exists in any world will, sooner or later, reach the All-World. The closer any world is to the Old World, bigger will be the resemblance to it. Farther they are, more different. Because, naturally, nothing considered 'supernatural' exists in the Old World."

At this point, Lothos was interrupted by Arme.

"Nothing exists? So how did we get attacked by those green things if they don't exist?"

"Pay attention to what I say. They don't exist here _naturally_. That doesn't mean they can't cross from other realities into this one. Besides, when did I tell you the world you guys live in is the Old World?"

There was no answer. There was, however, a question, in a very terrified tone:

"It isn't?" asked Ronan. "You mean ours is not the… uh… real world?"

"Every world is real." answered Lothos, calm. "The Old World was only the first to exist and is, along with the All-World, the only two worlds which are truly indispensable. The two nexus of the whole creation. But yes, this one you live in is, undoubtedly, the Old World. Now, I was interrupted when I was talking about the Strings, right? Well, they all begin at the Old World and end at the All-World. But they are not all. These two essential realities are connected more intimately than any other. For another String was created.

"The Thirty-Third, we call it. The mightiest of all Strings. All the energy that flows through the twenty-two would not be enough to keep it alive. It has its own flow, away from all the others, and it connects the Old World and the All-World, directly, without one single parallel world on its way. It is the Thirty-Third that assures that, even with all the differences, these two main realities are similar to each other and flow in the same pace of time."

"Stop!" exclaimed Amy. "You are saying that there are these strings, connecting us to some other Earth on the other side of the Universe? That is impossible! There are no strings in the Universe!"

"I didn't say universe. Indeed, I'm not talking about the ridiculous boundaries of this Universe. You can take the fastest ship you can imagine, and fly eternally throughout deep space, and you're never going to reach the All-World. The only way to reach the Strings is by magic. The Strings exist only on spiritual plane. Physically, they don't exist. You can feel their energy, their influence, you can travel through them, but you can't touch them."

There was a small silence after that, quickly broken by Ronan's voice:

"Magic. Soulcraft or whatever. What is it?"

"'Magic' is divided. We have the basic, the channel and the soulcraft. It is too complicated to explain now, but the base is: basic is the easiest and weakest, channel is, obviously, energy that can be channeled and soulcraft is the hardest and more dangerous of all, since it consumes the user's inner force to be used, being capable of leading to fatigue and even death.

"The users of soulcraft are really respected in the All-World, and in those worlds close to it, which share the same knowledge. They are called Soul-crafters, _zannoinen_ in the ancient language."

"Ancient language?" asked Sieghart, intrigued.

"It was the language spoken by the First-Born, the most ancient of all the organized societies. The First-Born are the race from which descends the elves we have today, _and_ they were the most powerful race to ever exist. Their language doesn't have any real power, and the full knowledge of it was lost throughout the ages, but some is still known."

"_Zannoinen._ You said you would make us that thing." said Victor.

"Yes."

"What if I say I don't want to?"

"I'd say that, after you've heard all of this, what you want comes to no concern."

Victor looked at her, angered.

"What will you teach us?"

"Firstly, a couple of languages, if you don't already know. That's essential. After that, we'll see."

"Why are you so interested in making us learn that?" asked Jin.

"Professional curiosity."

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Jin yelled.

"You heard me. You were the only ones to transform."

"Yes!" exclaimed Lass. "This transformation thing! What is this? Why are we like this?"

"This transformation is what's called Inner Presence, even if there're other, more elegant, terms. It is what qualifies a _zannoinen_. You can say that's what your soul looks like, roughly. About why did you transform, I can only make suppositions. That explosion caused a disturbance in both physical and spiritual planes. In the physic world, you felt it as the wind. But its energy, in spiritual level, wasn't enough to transform anyone. Anyone but you guys. That leads me to one conclusion: you guys had it in yourselves to transform, like a natural propensity, what makes a complete waste not to train you, since you have such a gift."

Elesis spoke before anyone else:

"You mean we have like, a… knack for this things you said?"

"Yes. _And_ there is the possibility that there was a higher influence on that event."

"Higher influence? Whose?" asked Elena. Elesis saw something like anxiety in her eyes. Wondering what could that mean, she focused back on Lothos.

"I have an idea. You'll know it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" asked Ryan, Ronan, Lass and Mari at the same time. Lothos grinned at them.

"Can it be that you are actually curious?"

Lass raised his hands, in a defeat gesture.

"We were the ones who wanted to stay. We're curious all the way from the beginning."

"And so will you be until tomorrow." sentenced Lothos. "It may be only midday here, but this thing has a time controlling spell on it. Out there, it's probably one or two in the morning. I take it you don't want to party anymore, after the accident. Am I right?"

They stared at each other for some time, and they noticed, for the first time, that they were back to normal.

"Ah." sighed Ryan, staring at his reflex on a mirror. "I liked my new look better."

"You can't keep that up all the time." said Lothos. "Sooner or later, it 'switches off'."

Frustrated, Ryan placed the mirror on the table he found it. Curious, Elesis asked:

"Will we stay here?"

"No, of course not. You will leave and come back tomorrow. I will make sure you wake up in time, since I want you at my office in the Physics building at eight o'clock."

"Eight?" asked a stupefied Jin. "Why so early?"

"We've got a lot to do. I will send you back to the place we were before coming here. From there, you go to your place."

"Can't you send us directly to our dorm?" asked Ronan, apparently disappointed.

"I guess not. It's better not to have a gate there."

"Why?"

"Later." that said, Lothos raised her hand and pointed it at the circle on the floor. She whispered those weird words again, and again the hole opened, showing them that same piece of street they were hours ago. It was still dark. "Now, you guys must go. Don't make me throw you through that hole one by one."

"I'd like to see you try." said Sieghart, sarcastic. After that, the events were too fast to see the details. One second, Lothos was standing in the middle of the room, four meters or more away from Sieghart. The next second, she was picking him up like he was weightless. After that, she materialized in front of the gate and, without hesitation, threw Sieghart straight through the hole, like she was throwing a paper ball. Sieghart fell noisily on the concrete, with a scream that mixed surprise, anger and pain. Lothos turned to the eleven still inside and said, smiling:

"Anyone else wants to take the Throwing Express?"

They all hurried to go through the hole. Lothos said an amused "Bye bye." behind them, and the hole closed. Sieghart was out of his mind.

"I'll go back to that stationary thing just to kick her ass tomorrow!" he said, heated.

"You don't want to fight her, she is faster than anything I've ever seen." said Lass. "You don't stand a chance."

"Then I'll wait. Wait 'till I'm trained as well. I'll be stronger than her. Then she'll see who will throw who."

"We should get going." said Elesis, rationally.

Still hearing Sieghart's empty threats, they all turned to their way, each immersed in their own thoughts, and imagining what would they see in the next day.

**Afterword:** Taking too long again, am I not… And, even though I have been away for so long, I have nothing to say. Not that it matters, no one reads these stuff the authors usually write after the chapter, anyway. My life is so messed up, and all I can think about is sleep, so taking long is, as is said, to be expected.

Changing the topic, I'd like to show my gratitude to the kind soul who took some time to tell me I had left something of my older ideas among the thousands of words of the chapter which came before this one. It's fixed now. I'll be more careful, I swear, otherwise it's going to become quite confusing.

Well, I should stop now, before I a) say anything stupid/offensive or b) die of eagerness to play Crysis 2, which I just acquired after a really long wait. Nanosuits rulez!

TheHellequin out.


	5. First Contact

**Chapter Five == First Contact (Casus Belli)**

ONE

Sometimes, morning comes faster than we want. In The Corporation, it came even before that.

In the first night of the year of 2009, twelve people arrived at the entrance of Gekkouka University, about two and a half in the morning. After a small quarrel with the gatekeeper, they got in and went two a place called the 4th Lane. There, they entered the number Twelve, sixth to the right of those who come in the Lane from number One (whose name is Wilson Cortez). Inside number Twelve (whose name is The Corporation), these twelve went to their respective rooms, without eating, talking or actually doing anything at all. They were all immersed inside themselves for the time being. They would get used to the idea of a much greater reality, but not that night. All of them ended up sleeping, sooner or later. Exactly eight in the morning, though, they were all awakened by what sounded like a bomb right outside their place. The first to come out running was a tall, black-haired and handsome man. Right after him, there was a second man, this one younger, a little shorter and equally handsome, with a long and deep blue hair. These two looked around for almost one minute, looking for the source of the noise (in this meantime, another person came out of the place: a short girl with shoulder-length, purple hair, looking scared). After some time, the navy blue haired man pointed at something on the floor and exclaimed:

"There, Sieg!" Sieghart looked at the thing his roommate was pointing and didn't seem to understand.

"That piece of paper?" He doubted a small piece of paper could sound like an explosion.

"It's not just a piece of paper." said Ronan, approaching it, whatever it was. Once closed enough, he said: "It's an envelope."

Taking it, he walked back inside, along with Sieghart and Arme, who still seemed rather suspicious. There was someone in the hall: a blonde girl, very beautiful and also looking suspicious. She asked, with her sweet and pleasant voice:

"What did you find?" said Lire.

Ronan was the one to respond.

"This." he said, raising the envelope. "It's a… letter, I guess."

"Open it." demanded Arme. Her voice was high-pitched, but not unpleasant.

"We should call the others." said Sieghart. He had a deep and somewhat arrogant voice. That was misplaced, though. He was not arrogant. Sieghart could be egocentric, but he was far from arrogance. "I could bet my hand that thing is from Lothos. Look at the time."

They all looked. Eight o'clock and three minutes. The woman was really _punctual_.

"There's no need to call the others. How can someone still be asleep after that?"

The girl walking down the stairs was tall for a woman's standards, and had a really provocative body, her red hair glistening under the weak morning sun. Her voice was deeper than usual, quite the ideal voice for a melodic singer.

"So they are up?" asked Ronan.

"Yes." answered Elesis. "A letter from Lothos, is it?"

"Or so we believe." cleared Arme.

Two other boys were now coming from the corridor. One was tall, almost as tall as Sieghart, and had pure white hair, matching the pale skin of his serious face. The other was the opposite: his skin was tanned, and his hair was of a vivid orange-like color, shorter but more built up than the first.

"So –" asked Ryan. "– who got shot out there?"

"The hole must be really big." said Lass. "Judging by the noise, it's quite the gun."

Before Ronan, Sieghart and Arme had any time to explain, three other girls entered the hall: to the left, there was a pink-haired girl, more beautiful than any other in the room, her face wondrous as a make-up model's. The one in the middle was the smallest person in the group (taller only than Arme), even though she was actually the oldest. She had a sympathetic expression, and her hair was pitch-black. To the right, there was a girl with an exquisite figure, and electric-blue hair; she was wearing a pair of glasses.

"Shot?" asked Amy, incredulously. "Lothos shot someone just to wake us up?"

"No one got shot." sentenced Ronan. "I don't know what the heck Lothos did…"

"Why doesn't anyone considerate that she may just have used one of those small bombs they sell in warehouses?" asked a male voice.

The last two residents were arriving at the already crowded hall. One was blonde, short, strong and was grinning. The other was taller, equally built up and his hair was dark red and really unsettled.

"I've already done that a lot." said Victor. "Leaving bombs at people's doorstep…"

"Hey. It's getting crowded here!" yelled Ronan. "How about we take this pleasant little meeting outside?"

After they all left, Ronan and Sieghart explained the situation. Immediately, they started making suppositions.

"Don't open!" said Amy. "It will blow your hands off!"

"Open it!" demanded Jin. "Lothos wants us unharmed. Why else would she save us yesterday?"

"I will open it!" bellowed Ronan, silencing the others.

He analyzed the letter, before opening it. It looked like a normal letter. Suspiciously, he opened it. It did not explode. There was only a small note inside.

_I want Elesis, Lire, Lass, Ronan, Mari and Sieghart in front of my office at nine o'clock. No one else. If you don't come, I will go fetch you._

_Arianne Lothos_

The mentioned tenants looked at each other, intrigued.

"Why only us?" asked Lire.

"Why not us?" asked Jin, heated. He got a blazing look from Amy for that.

"Well, sucks to be you guys right now." she said. "You should get going."

"Yeah, who knows what she might do, if you are late…" said Jin, still angry.

They looked at each other again.

"She doesn't leave us much of a choice, does she?" said Ronan.

Seeing no way out, the six who got called entered back the building to get changed. The others found themselves busy making up an excuse to tell the neighbors about the noise. They had no idea how many times would they have to do that from that day onwards.

TWO

Facing the fact that there was no way around it, the six who got requested went to the Physics building at the demanded time. They found Lothos' room, but its door was closed shut.

"What does that mean?" asked Lire. "Didn't she call us here?"

"It's only a quarter to nine." said Mari. "She wrote nine o'clock."

Lass looked around and knew they were all thinking the same: _what is wrong with this woman?_

Mari was right. Exactly at nine o'clock, Lothos opened the door, this time wearing normal clothes.

"You are really anxious, aren't you?" she asked, amused.

"Why?" asked Lass.

"Well, you got here fifteen minutes earlier than I asked." answered Lothos.

"We just miscalculated, okay?" he decided to pass over the fact that, even with her door closed, she knew they were there.

"Sure! Come in."

Her room was just like any other room in the university: Files, a desk, paper sheets… except for one thing. A small glass sphere on top of a pile of paper. There was an image inside it, that looked uncomfortably similar to the beach from the other night.

"This is the stagnant thing?" asked Sieghart.

"Stationary." corrected Lothos. "And yes, it is."

"Smaller than yesterday, isn't it?" asked Elesis, sarcastically.

"Let's go in?" said Lothos, ignoring her.

"And just _how_ do we get in that?" asked Ronan.

"Ah, it's a simple thing." she said, picking up the little ball. Holding it on the palm of her hand, she whispered: "_Aperio_"

The little ball shone like a small sun, white and bright. Soon, it was shining so strongly it was not possible to look straight at it. After some time, it was so bright that everyone closed their eyes. It grew even brighter, and Lass thought he was going to lose his sight. When it had reached a point where it was impossible to see anything, he felt an air movement, like he was moving really fast. The light began to wither and, after some time, it went out completely. Lass opened his eyes. He was in the island from before.

"Do we have to go through that every time we come in here?" he asked.

Lothos looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yesterday, you said you were in, right?"

They all stared at her for some time before saying a hesitant yes.

"Then you will call me 'master', as we settled before."

This time, they turned to face each other. Lass was wondering once again what was wrong with Lothos. A while later, he gave in.

"Fine, then. Do we have to see that light every time we get in here, _master_?"

Lothos smiled, sympathetic.

"It didn't hurt, did it? And yes, until you learn how to make your own gates, yes."

"Are you going to teach us how to do that, master?" asked Lire.

"I intend to. But first things first. We should leave the house. It is not the ideal place for teaching." she said, walking to a door and opening it. It led to a corridor, in the same old fashioned style of the living room, which was the only place they knew in the island so far. "Follow me."

Lothos led them through some rooms and corridors, until they met with the entrance door of the house. It was made of solid wood, four meters tall and, apparently, unmovable.

"Er… how are we supposed to open that?" asked Sieghart. "It must be as heavy as a car."

Lothos merely chuckled as she walked to the door and opened it with a small push. Sieghart looked like he just got hit by a car.

"How'd you…" he began, being immediately cut off.

"It will all be explained in due time. I said I'd teach you, and I will. Now come. It's not a short walk."

Lass was overrun by the beauty of the place. There was a trail of white rectangular stones, sided by the green grass. To the right, the forest that went downhill to a place that looked really wild to Lass' eyes. To the left, there was the cliff and, down there, the sea, blowing its unintelligible words. To the front, there was the trail, that went down a slightly angled side of the hill where the house was located, leading, about three kilometers away, to a white-sanded beach, too far off to distinguish anything from the glittering sand. Ronan let out a low whistle.

"Nice isn't it?" said Lothos. There was no pride in her voice. Only amusement. "Yet I must say it was quite pricey."

"How much was it, master?" asked Ronan.

"Five hundred golden _enothtes_. That would be two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I guess."

They all turned to her at once.

"_WHAT?_"

"Just how much money do you have?" asked Lire.

"Well, right now, not much." said Lothos, modestly. "But, back in the day, there was a war, and the war is a really good place to make money, whatever else it may be. I was good at it, too, so… I ended up pretty well."

"'Back in the day', eh? How much back?" asked Sieghart.

"Some time." said Lothos, mysterious. "But now is not the time for me to tell you my life story. There are more important things to be said."

"Like what?" asked Elesis. "I think we should know who you are."

"You will," assured Lothos. "But not now."

"So why are we going down there?" asked Mari. "It's pretty far for a walk."

"As I said, it's not very intelligent to teach you how to destroy stuff indoors. Out there is better."

There was a small silence, and then Lass spoke.

"Why did you only call on us?"

"Because, for now, it's better if I can focus more on each one of you. I would not be able to do so if there were twelve people in here."

"Ah… so could you keep going with those explanations from yesterday?"

"Sure." said Lothos.

"You mentioned a 'higher influence'." said Mari. Lass didn't remember the details, but then he realized it was Mari talking. "Elena asked whose influence, and you didn't say. So, can you say now? Master?" she added, quickly.

"Fate." said Lothos, simply.

"I'm sorry, but… Fate?" said Mari, incredulous. "I don't think there is such a thing."

It was Lothos' turn to be incredulous.

"What, you don't believe Fate? What kind of narrow-minded heathen are you?"

"I'm not narrow-minded!" exclaimed Mari, apparently offended. "I find it hard to believe we are all part of a big plan that we must follow, but not question, or… or to believe that all our life is written down from the moment we are born until… death or –" she hesitated. "– or anything else."

"I don't believe such a thing either." retorted Lothos. "But if you think that is Fate, then you deserve to be called narrow-minded. There's no force that controls us, from birth to death, or whatever you said. Fate is a much higher force, something much more subtle than a force to control lives. Fate is not your life. Fate is the life of the creation. As much as we know, Fate was created along with the Thirty-Third String. It responds as the soul of creation. Since every living thing has a soul, Fate is creation's very soul. It cannot control the lives of every single living thing inside the countless worlds that came to exist, but Fate will do what it takes to guarantee the continuation of creation. And that means interfering with the events on one's life. It can't change life itself, but the events that lead someone's choices may be changed by Fate's hand."

"Alright, very beautiful, but what does the continuation of existence has to do with us?" asked Lass.

"Probably nothing." said Lothos, briefly. Lass noticed something on that answer, but made no comments. "It is only a theory."

"You said magic was too complicated to detail yesterday." stated Ronan. "How about now?"

Lothos sighed.

"I don't like the word 'magic'. It doesn't feel right."

"But you used it yesterday!"

"Only once, and did so against my will, though if you prefer it, I guess I can say it like that. To tell the truth, I like to call the three abilities by their proper names: Commandments, Skills and Spells. In Greek, Εντολές [Entoles], Δεξιότητες [Dexiotites] and Ξόρκια [Ksorkia]."

"Ente – what?" said Lire.

"Don't worry about the languages; you'll have time to learn. The important is: Commandments are orders that, using your energy, you can issue into the surrounding energy. It's not really useful in battle, but, if used properly, it can give birth to big results, like this timeless orb. As I said, there are many Commandments placed on this 'stationary'. While you're in here, time is multiplied by a factor of six. And, as you can see, there's also a space incantation here, which allows us to be transported to this location from that orb on my desk.

"Commandments can be issued in any language that you feel comfortable around, but the best results will always be achieved by commanding in Latin. Latin is a pure language, such as Greek or Hebrew. Since these are very ancient languages, they are hardly influenced by other speeches; therefore, if you say something in Latin, you have to actually _mean_ it."

Lass imagined how long would it take for him to learn a whole new language. Deciding not to make any comments once more, he heard Lothos as she continued her explanations.

"Skills are the results of energy channeled through something. For example, your own body. At the Park, last night, there was no way a normal human could hit an orc hard enough for it to feel anything, for example."

"So," interrupted Sieghart. "That's where your strength and speed comes from?"

"That and some time of training, of course. The more time you spend with your Inner Presence activated, you'll notice that your Outer Presence will grow closer to it. As you are now, you are just as weak and powerless as any person I could find on the street. But, as I said, you seem to be naturals for this kind of thing. With your Inner Presence, you'll gain access to your internal energy resources, and you'll grow stronger, faster and more sharp-sensed than normal people, which leads us back to Dexiotites.

"The better you get in channeling your energy, the more you'll see your body and mind increase. But your body isn't the only weapon in your storages. If you have a sword, like I had mine last night, you can channel your energy through it, giving it unusual capabilities, like cutting through steel, like I did with the orcs' armors back there.

"The last one is Soulcraft, the Spells. It is dangerous because, when it comes to Soulcraft, it's not about using your energy to manipulate your surrounding natural energy or channeling it into a sword, but to actually burn your soul like fuel to generate one of the natural forms of energy: the ancient elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and all the sort. Soulcraft is the deadliest and most destructive kind of ability that ever came to exist. There are Spells capable of destroying buildings, killing with a single hit, burning everything around you, drowning cities whole. One who is capable of using all three Abilities will earn the title of _zannoinen_, Soul-crafter. I used to be a _zannoinen_ in my day. I can still make Soulcraft, but I no longer hold the title of Soul-crafter in the All-World."

"Why is that, master?" asked Elesis.

"Not now, Elesis Winchester."

"Why do you call me that?" she asked, heated. Lothos probably didn't understand why, but Lass knew: Elesis didn't like her surname.

"It's just a bad habit."

"Well, I prefer just Elesis." she said, turning around. "If you want to be called 'master', then call me by my name."

"As you wish." said Lothos, terminating the subject.

"So, master, could you, uh – demonstrate these things you just described, these… Abilities?" asked Lire, hesitantly.

"We're almost there, Lire. Now, anything else?"

"Do you intend on making us Soul-crafters?" asked Mari. "The languages you'll teach us are, by any chance, those pure languages you mentioned? Latin, Greek…"

"Yes, I intend on seeing how far can you go as _zannoinen. _Now _you_," she said, looking at Mari. "You have the right mind. Inquisitive. Sharp. You are Mari Brautigan, aren't you?"

"That is correct. Mari Veronica Brautigan, eighteen years old, student of the second year in the High School department of Gekkouka University." said Mari, with her clear and somewhat soft voice.

"I do know you." said Lothos. "You always get the high marks in every class. I wonder how do you do it."

"Hard work, I guess." said Mari, briefly. Lass knew she would not tell Lothos about her memory's state. It was clear on her face that she didn't trust the woman. Lass thought that was a bit unfair, after Lothos saved them from an apparently horrible death just a few hours ago, but, once more, he decided against saying anything.

"Oh, Mari, let's not begin like this." said Lothos, looking disappointed. "I won't tear the truth out of your mind, but I can tell when someone is lying to me, and you are obviously hiding something. I don't have any harm intentions towards you or any of your colleagues, so you don't have to lie."

When Mari remained quiet, Lothos sighed and said:

"But I won't pressure you either. Say it or not, it is your decision. I just hope that, after some time, you can truly tell me something as small as how do you get your marks."

Lass could see that Mari wasn't happy. But there was no time to think of anything actually concrete, because, suddenly, they were at the white-sanded beach. The sun was now at full height in the sky, and he regretted bringing his sweater with him. _Out there was cold. I didn't know I would be coming to the Tahiti._ Lothos turned to them, placed her hands together and said:

"So, let's begin?"

THREE

"_Last night, in the first night of the New Year, there was an attack inside the place known as Meridiana Park, this year's matrix to the famous New Year event of Meridiana City, the NAE. It is believed that the attack was the working of a gang of vandals, who, in the heat of the moment, got carried away. There were thirty-three dead and twenty people wounded, severely or lightly. While the murderers have not yet been found, the MPD guarantees that, all around the city, such an event didn't happen…"_

Amy turned the television off, furiously. She turned to Jin, standing beside the couch in which she was laying, and said, heated:

"Can you believe this crap? They seriously don't have any clue at all!"

Jin didn't seem to care much.

"Well, that only proves how good Lothos is in covering her bases. Personally, I feel safer this way. What if they found out we were there?"

Amy was still angry, but couldn't deny Jin's logic. It was pretty rare for one of them to get a lecture from Jin. He was actually smart, but used to waste his talent in useless (in Amy's opinion) things, like mastering as many fighting styles as he could, usually accompanied by Victor, his friend and rival. She didn't have anything against Jin or Victor, but, like anyone else (especially females) she was cautious around them. They were both extremely temperamental, and their fighting skills were almost legendary, especially Jin's. It was good to have them around walking at night, but their company was a risky one.

Amy got to her feet and crossed the living room, reaching the hallway that, to her left, led to the entrance hall and, to her right, led to the stairs that went up to the women's bedrooms. She got herself thinking something really odd. _Thirty-three Strings that hold reality together. Thirty-three dead on the attack downtown._ It was a really odd coincidence. Really odd indeed.

She turned to the stairs, and walked them up, thinking randomly about the unanimous voting, back in the stationary. She was completely outvoted. Amy had a bad feeling from the start. She had guaranteed them that she would be the one to say "I told you so" when everything screwed up. Now she was wondering what made her say that. She didn't think it was all going to screw up. She also had seen Lothos' exhibit in the woods at Meridiana Park. She had also seen that, in some seconds, the red-haired woman had killed all of them, moving faster than the eyes could follow. She had seen Sieghart, who wasn't particularly light, being thrown like a trash bag through a hole blasted in reality itself. Amy had seen all that and didn't doubt that Lothos was powerful. _How can it screw up if we have one such as her beside us?_, she wondered. Yet the foreboding feeling didn't go away and Amy thought, for the first time, that Death was there, there to take them, someday…

"Hey, Amy!" shouted a voice from downstairs. She recognized that tranquilizer voice: Ryan was calling her from downstairs. "Could you call Arme down here?"

_Arme._ Arme was Amy's best friend inside that sanatorium called The Corporation. Arme knew how to deal with weird or insane people, and the types that lived in that place were fit in the "insane" category. Amy thought that was due to the fact that the girl was Lass' stepsister, and that alone wasn't an easy thing to be, even with the current Lass. Amy didn't know Lass when he was more of an empty shell than a human being, but Arme, Ronan and Lire knew him well, and assured that he was one hard-to-swallow fellow. In the present, Lass was not exactly sympathetic, but Amy found him an at least curious person, serious but still funny, intelligent yet not arrogant. He was also an annoyingly convicted drinker and he and Sieghart could often be found drunk, including in Sieghart's own bar. Even so, nor Lass or Sieghart seemed to be alcoholics, and both could easily spend long periods without one single drop of alcohol.

Amy noticed she was standing on Arme and Lire's doorstep. She knocked. Lire's voice answered:

"What?"

"Is Arme in there?" asked Amy.

"Yes, I'm here." responded Arme's voice. The girl opened the door, and Amy looked briefly into the room. Lire was watching the same TV news Amy had just turned off. It was now showing something called the 'Political Eye'. "What is it?"

"Ryan is down there, wants to see you."

Arme sighed.

"I told him…" she whispered, as she left for the stairs. Amy watched her leaving.

"What do you think they're doing?" said Lire inside the room, surprising Amy.

"Well… I got the impression it was food, since Mari isn't here –"

"No." interrupted Lire. "Not Arme and Ryan, I couldn't care less for what _they_ are doing. I mean the other six. Lass, Mari and the others."

"Ah. I…" Amy was more than ready to take a guess, but now she noticed she had no idea at all. _Really, what are they doing?_ "…don't have a single clue."

FOUR

"I don't have a single clue" stated Sieghart, Ronan and Elesis, all at once.

Mari sighed at her friends' ignorance. They were now sitting around a wooden table, inside a stone kiosk. The waves were crashing against the stone cliffs of the island, but the beach was calm, the sand was shining under the morning sun. It was a weird thought that they were in the timeless orb for almost two hours now and, outside, that was equivalent to twenty minutes or so. According to Mari's counts, one day inside the orb would spend four hours outside. One day outside would be six days inside. Returning to the present, Mari noticed that the others were still in an impasse with the languages. Lothos had asked if any of them knew a little of Greek. Neither Sieghart, Ronan nor Elesis seemed to have heard a single Greek word in their lives. Mari imagined if they were, after all, unaware that many words in the modern languages derived from the Ancient Greek. It looked like it.

"So, if you never heard at all, we're going to start from the basic of the basic." said Lothos.

"Wait!" interrupted Elesis. "Didn't you say you'd show those three things to us once we got down here, master?"

Lothos laughed.

"Yeah, I do remember." she said, getting up. "Well, firstly…"

She raised her hand, directed it to Elesis' chair and said, in an imperative tone:

"_Affligo!_"

Elesis let out a surprised scream when her solid wooden chair snapped and she went straight to the ground. The chair's legs were completely separated from the chair itself. It was like the chair deliberately decided to break its legs off.

Elesis, heated, got up and looked to Lothos.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"Well, you wanted a demonstration." said Lothos. "That was a Commandment. I ordered your chair to break, you might have noticed."

Elesis' indignation was overpowered by her curiosity. She turned to look at the chair.

"So you just ordered and it… crashed?"

Mari looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"That is impossible." she muttered. Her purely analytic mind refused to believe it. She kept trying to explain rationally what had just happened, but all her excuses (previous damage, accident) sounded just as ridiculous as the reality she had just experienced. She looked at the others and noticed they were all just like her, assimilating. After a second, they began to ask. All at once. Their questions got lost in the echoes created by the stone walls. Lothos raised her hand to silence them.

"Do you want even more proof?" she asked. "If you do, then come after me."

She left the kiosk, and immediately Elesis, Lass, Sieghart and Ronan went after her. Lire went soon after. Curious, but still reluctant, Mari was the last to leave the shadow of the stone ceiling. Out in the beach, Lothos was standing on the sand, and the others were behind her, looking eagerly at the woman. Lothos, once again, raised her hand but, this time, Mari felt something else. Right after the explosion, Mari remembered feeling a wave that made her body shake all the way down to her bones. She was feeling that now, in a smaller scale. Something vibrating, like the air itself was excited. Lothos' right arm was raised against the blinding sun, and her clear voice pierced the air, saying words Mari didn't recognize, but somehow, understood a little…

"Ο Θεία βωμό της Φλόγας, λάμπει του φως πάνω μου! _/ _O Theia bomo tis Flogas, lampei tou fos sou pano mou_._"

Suddenly, Lothos' hand lowered and Mari saw, for a moment, something that looked like a bracelet of red light around Lothos' wrist.

"Μετέωρο Απεργία! / Meteoro Apergia!"

Mari lost her breath when, with a deafening noise, a sphere of pure fire, roughly the same size of a truck tire, exploded from Lothos' hand and flew with an incredible speed towards the ocean. Mari noticed the sand being thrown sideways by the force of the fire ball, which never reached the ocean. Ten meters away from them, the fireball hit a wooden table. The table exploded like a bomb. The wood did not catch fire, but was completely torn to pieces by the force of the explosion. After the fire and the smoke vanished enough to see, Mari noticed that the table was completely smashed. Gone. There was a single vestige of it: the mangled remains of carbonized wood lying useless on the sand.

Lothos turned to her new students, smiling.

"This is the power of a _zannoinen_. Also, this is what I expect from you."

None of them said a thing.

C|-|4P73R 3ND-

**Author's Note: **Hi. It's TheHellequin again. And again, when I look up to my chapters, I try to calculate exactly how many times I've rewritten every single sub-chapter (that's how I call those ONE's, TWO's and THREE's) in them. There are many words to define the answer I come to: many, lots, _muchos_ and, if you've read The Dark Tower books, we have _delah_. They all mean the same, which is so many I can't remember. I think that's why I take so long.

Now, for the important stuff. I'm not the kind of author who bitches for reviews, and I won't go like "GIMME THE F**KING REWIEWS" (after all, not that many people like GC fanfics and even fewer people like _my_ GC fanfic). But reviews are welcome. I want to know if I'm doing good here or just embarrassing myself, and if there are any grave grammar/continuity errors in the chapters – in the chapters, not in my comments, those are mine to fuck with (evil grin here). The chapters aren't. Somehow, I feel like the story is not entirely mine. I always feel like this.

But now I've said too much, considering almost everyone will stop at my stylish (not) chapter end some lines above. And, about a comment someone made, I wasn't thinking exactly on the language when I rated the story M, it's just safety (because I've already been through writing improper things without censor and getting scolded for that), but it's a good reason, so let's just say "M for language".

TheHellequin out.

PS: Is it just me, or the Rules&Guidelines never actually change? I mean, we do have to read them every single week, so they could at least put a "Hey, how'ya doing?" or a joke at the bottom. Just, you know, for fun.


	6. Beginning

**Chapter Six == Beginning (Second Start)**

ONE

"Come on, you've done it before, you can do it again!" cheered Lothos.

"I'm trying to!" complained Arme back at her.

In any average situation, Jin would have laughed really hard at Arme's extremely concentrated expression, that made her look like a tomato. That was not an average situation, though: he was just as screwed as her. Lothos was revealing to be an incredibly demanding master, strict and hard to follow. That didn't mean, however, she didn't know how to make them learn.

"In first place, you will show me your Inner Presences again. I really can't move forward if I'm not sure of what can you do." she had said.

Elesis was the first among them to be able to willingly transform into that other state, that Lothos called Inner Presence. That wiped off from Jin's mind any doubts he could have if that was or not a very well planned prank. Ironically, after a close examination, Elesis seemed to be the one of the least promising among them. Maybe that quick development of hers was her way of compensating her lack of promise. _Lack of promise, my ass._

"This –" Lothos had said four days ago (four days inside the orb were equivalent to sixteen hours outside), raising what looked like a monocle with weird inscriptions on it. "– is a very useful item called Occulus Animae, used to measure your current amount of energy. Of course, it won't on someone who has a minimum level of knowledge on how to block this kind of thing, but since you are so clueless, there will be no problem."

None of them seemed to actually like being called clueless, but since they knew that was the truth, no one spoke up.

"Every day, before we begin anything we have to do," she continued. "I will measure you with this, to see how much have you grown."

"Wait." interrupted Lass. "What exactly does that thing measure?"

"Your current level of energy, Lass. How much can you do before falling over in exhaustion. If I measure you before we begin, I'll see you completely rested, and so, full to the brim. And since you asked, you can be the first to step up."

Lass didn't like that at all.

"Is that thing going to see me, like – underneath?" he asked. Lothos sighed.

"This is not an X-Ray scanner, Lass." she said, patiently.

Lass muttered something before stepping forward. Lothos placed the Occulus Animae on her right eye and whispered "Cute perspici, anima videa", whatever could _that_ mean. The inscriptions around the monocle began to shine with some kind of blue light, and, when Lothos focused the thing's gaze upon him, he felt the same bone-shaking wave the explosion (which, he knew now, was a dimensional rift, a forcefully opened connection between two realities) had caused, but in a smaller scale. When Lothos took the little monocle off, she let out a low whistle.

"Very good." she said. "Untrained, and yet with a good amount. Next?"

The side-to-side line stepped back, all at once, except for Elena. Jin found that hilarious, but his laugh got stuck to his throat after seeing Lothos' face: she seemed actually puzzled about that action. Lass, who happened to be closer to the woman, reported later that he heard her muttering something that sounded like "Why only you didn't…". Lothos, however, recomposed quickly and said:

"Fine then. Elena, if you please…"

That was why Jin, four days (or maybe sixteen hours) later, reflected that Lothos' measuring was no more than energy levels and, as far as he had seen, such energy was very fitting to be measured in kilotons. So far, he had only seen Lothos use her Soulcraft things to destroy stuff. And yet there he was, trying to achieve his Inner Presence, willingly this time. After Elesis succeeded in achieving hers, Lothos gave her the task of mastering it. _On, off._

Inside, outside.

_On, off._

TWO

The Corporation was empty.

That was to be expected, since its tenants were where they were supposed to be in the end of January: a classroom. The demonstration of the Meteor Strike, back in the stationary, had happened almost a month ago (according to the normal time). During the holidays, Lothos used her timeless orb to turn those fifteen normal days into more than two months (Mari assured them it was exactly sixty-three days), spent only to make them learn the most of Latin they could. The day Arme achieved her Inner Presence, the same day that Jin observed that she looked like a tomato when focused, was the last day of their holidays. In that day Lothos showed them the Occulus Animae and revealed that, among them, Sieghart had the largest energy stock, and Elesis had the smallest. That made the red-headed girl so upset that she actually succeeded in turning into her Inner Presence again in two days.

"And that –" Lothos had said, in the night after that event. "– only proves my theory right. Two days is something even I have never seen, and that shows that you really do have a natural talent for this."

That comment made their spirits raise a little (Lothos was absolutely against praising them), but they would soon fall into hopelessness again, after Lothos continued:

"But talents never come free. There is something else about you guys, or at least some of you. I don't know yet, but I will see what can I do to find out."

Under the pressure of being analyzed by Lothos even more intimately and worried about their Latin learning, the twelve Corporates (that name was how the twelve _zannoinen_ apprentices called themselves) returned to their school agenda.

Elesis, sleepy, tried to pay any attention to her current class, which was hard considering she didn't even know what was the topic. Lothos had commanded her to master her Inner Presence to the point where she would be able to switch it on/off without even having to properly focus. Compared to simply summoning it once (or twice), the mastering task was almost impossible. She had to virtually turn herself inside out to transform, and, once transformed, her small energy reserves would quickly fade away. Once or twice she tried to Command something, and almost fainted to make a pebble rise from the ground into her hand. Even though she knew her path was just beginning, that deficiency was starting to annoy her. Sieghart had an immense amount of energy according to Lothos' monocle, but the man just couldn't pull out a single Commandment. _Life ain't fair._ _Some have too little, others too much_. Could that be the truth, even when it came to energy levels? Elesis was finding out that yes, it could.

Five dazed hours later, Elesis was walking down the main street of the campus along with the rest of the High School students. The Gekkouka University held a High School course (God knows why) inside the place called Building C. After taking the daily classes, the Corporates who had classes in that building had to walk all the way to the opposite corner of the huge campus, where The Corporation was located, in 4th Lane number 12. That was, in normal days. That day, Lothos had said that, after their classes were over, they were to go straight to her place.

"You'll have time to rest there." she had said. "And I'll make sure you don't leave here today the same way you did last time."

Lothos was referring to their miscalculation of time, where they had to leave to class without getting any sleep and right after spending a whole afternoon studying Latin. It wasn't, after all, a very hard language. Once you got past all the very odd grammar rules, the vocabulary was easy. Arme, for example, was already able to do a handful of things by Commandment.

Elesis, however, was looking forward to something else. Commandments were useful, but Elesis was truly amazed by what Lothos called Ksorkia, the Spells. She had only seen three so far: the first one was the Megale Diataraxi [Μεγάλη Διαταραχή], Greek for Great Disturbance, a mid-level Earth Spell that caused a small earthquake. The second was Metafora [Μεταφορά], Tranportation spell from one determined place to another (Lothos marked the two places with a pair of circles). The third and last Elesis had seen was the Meteoro Apergia [Μετέωρο Απεργία], Meteor Strike, a low-level Fire Spell that launched an explosive fireball. Each one of these spells literally exceeded any precept of possible that Elesis could have, even though Lothos assured them that those were actually very weak spells.

In fact, Lothos guaranteed them that they would only get to see the really powerful Spells once they could use such Spells themselves. Forcing herself not to fall for impatience, Elesis had convinced herself that was another reason to improve fast, both in mind and body. By mind growth, she meant learning the languages and theoretical descriptions that Lothos asked her to learn. By body growth, she meant mastering her Inner Presence and, by doing so, start learning the second of the three great areas of Magic (what an irony it was, she thought, that both the Science and the Magic had three great areas): the Skills, the safest way to improve your body, or any weapon of choice. The second step.

Entoles; Dexiotites; Ksorkia.

Feeling a little more cheerful, Elesis made her way to the Physics building.

THREE

Mari focused only on the door right in front of her, and tried to open her mind to it (which she considered a truly idiot thing to do with a door). In her mind, Mari saw the door opening. With that image in her mind's eye, and looking at the real door (this one closed) with her face's eyes, Mari ordered:

"_Pateo!_"

There was a click noise when the locked door was suddenly not locked anymore. Feeling her heart pounding against her lungs, Mari walked forward and grabbed the iron knob. It turned easily on its gears and, when Mari pushed the door, it opened to the balcony, over which shone the bright blue sky of the stationary's enchanted island. Lothos, standing behind the whole process, walked on, smiling.

"Very good, Mari." said the woman. "See? Now that you did, can you believe that, after all, this is real?"

Mari was speechless. She was confused, very confused. She was the skeptical before and, only five seconds before, she had unlocked a door (worthy saying that the mentioned door had no keyhole) with only a single word. A Commandment. No need for physical contact when could simply tell things what to do, right? The process was actually much easier said than done, but there it was. _I've just done magic. Real Magic!_ After trying twice to say something with no success, Mari finally whispered:

"I… Did I really do that? Wasn't that you?" It was a possibility that crossed her mind. It was easier to admit Lothos opened a door only by saying 'Open' that do so replacing Lothos' name for her own.

"I didn't do a thing." assured Lothos. "That was you, all you. You Commanded that door. It's not a hard feat for a trained Commander, since the door has no will to go against the order, but it is still something you've done all by yourself."

Mari jumped over the part that (at her eyes) read 'It's not that much of a big deal', and focused on another point of Lothos' words.

"The door has no will to go against the order. That means that, if I tried to Command you for example, you would simply deny my order, because you have your own will to go against mine?"

"Basically, yes. If you had a stronger will than me you could force me, though. But I must say that, at your current level, you don't stand a chance to Command anyone with a proper mind, and it would be useless to try."

"Because I didn't train my will enough yet." said Mari.

"Yes." confirmed Lothos. "Once you become good at this, you'll even be able to Command people at some level. Some races, like the vampires, have such a knack for this that can actually Command a person into killing himself, stealing, attacking a random person, raping his own mother, and so goes."

Mari's skeptical look was back into her unmatching eyes. Since she was born (or maybe not, the correct term for Mari would be "since I can remember"), Mari's eyes were differently colored: her right eye was bright blue, while her left eye was an unsettling blood-red color.

"Vampires?"

"Mari –" said Lothos. "– look at what you've just done. You've opened that door without touching it. An old, wooden and completely presence sensor free door. Is it really that hard to believe in vampires after that?"

Mari was quiet for some time, apparently assimilating that newest information. Some five seconds later, she asked:

"What else exists?"

"In this world, not much. But, once you go to the All-World, it is different. Almost everything is real. Vampires, orcs, dragons, ghosts, demons, giant Cyclops who eat children… They all exist."

"So you really intend on taking us to the All-World?"

"After some time, yes. I think you'll be ready about the time of your summer holidays."

Mari whistled, admired.

"Five months." she reflected. "Only five months until we go to another damn universe…"

At least for Mari, that was an unsettling idea.

Something deep inside her whispered that, ultimately, all was not going to go so smoothly. It was not exactly a bad feeling, but something like an itch, so weak that was almost unperceivable. But still there.

And Mari was worried.

FOUR

"Very good, people! Outstanding indeed!" said Lothos, enthusiastically.

The first step to making the Corporates Soul-crafters was finally ended.

The Corporates celebrated cheerfully, looking pleased with themselves. They had a very good reason to be. Each one of them had finally been able to call out their True Presences (another name for Inner Presence, one that Lothos decided to keep to herself), and were capable of doing at least one successful Commandment.

Lothos' hopes lay mainly on three of the group: Arme was basically a genius, considering that, while most of the group was still trying to master the Commandments, the purple-haired girl was already looking into Lothos' books (she had a lot of books from the All-World) and trying to learn some things by herself. Sieghart had so much energy that Lothos was thinking of giving him a special attention because of that. The third place of the promising group was divided between Lire and Ryan: Lothos had observed that they had a special connection with their own souls, which was a characteristic of one of the races that existed only in the All-World. Arianne Lothos was already considering the possibility.

_Here, in the Old World? Is that even possible?_

She knew it was not impossible. The odds were definitely low but, hell, odds were not everything! Arianne was almost sure that Lire was an elf. About Ryan, there were only suppositions. There was a simple test, however, so simple it could barely be called a test. Arianne looked at her students and said, loud enough to be heard above their ruckus:

"Children! Gather 'round!"

When Arianne first called them "children", there was a lot (a really large lot) of swearing and, later on, a fist fight between Sieghart, Lass, Jin and Victor. Now, a little more used to their master's manners, they didn't discuss. They formed a half-circle in front of her, all of them dressed with the training clothing Lothos had for a long time. The cloth was very similar to that of a karate fighter, except that they were a little larger, to give even more movement freedom. Lothos looked at Lire and Ryan, coincidentally side to side, and said:

"You two. Get over here." As they walked forward to stand in front of Arianne, the woman said: "You will now turn to your Inner Presences."

Said and done. The couple stood before their master, and, a second later, Arianne felt that bone-shaking vibration when Lire and Ryan turned into their augmented versions. Lire grew even more beautiful than usual and her golden hair seemed to shine under the sun that was already at its cycle's end, laying above the ocean to the west. Ryan's already built up body became more pronounced under the large white robes, and his face also seemed to get more handsome and majestic, like Lire's. Arianne smiled lightly when looked upon them. Their speed to summon the Inner Presence had increased greatly: they only took about five seconds.

"Good. Really good." Arianne approached Lire. When they were almost face to face, she said: "Pull your hair back, Lire."

Lire seemed confused with the order, but obeyed without saying anything. The others around the circle gasped and immediately turned to Ryan, just to find the same thing. Lire and Ryan's ears were a little longer than a normal ear and were, undeniably and strangely, pointy. Arianne's smiled widened. _The ears of an elf._

Lire looked around, puzzled with the others' astonished expressions. Even Ryan was looking at her.

"Guys, what exactly…"

She suddenly came to a halt when her brain finally connected the facts. Lothos had asked her to pull her hair back. To see what? _Whatever it is, _she thought, _Ryan has it too._

Lire raised her eyes to Ryan's face and noticed, for the first time, his ears. With a faulting voice, she asked:

"Are mine… too?"

Ryan didn't answer, but simply nodded. _Yes, they are._ _God help me, what is this?_

Lothos' answer came before God's.

"You see?" she said, looking at the half-circle of ten dumbfounded people. "These are the greatest proof I could show you. These two are what is called in the All-World _elves_ or _grandparents_. The race that is the most resembling to the First Born."

The silence fell upon them, broken soon after by Jin.

"They are… elves?"

"Yeah, that's the most common word. _Grandparents_ is just a rough translation of the ancient term, _eiennie_. It can also mean 'The Immortals'."

There was a second burst of gasps around the people. This time Lire and Ryan joined the general voice with their own.

"Immortals?" asked Lire, altered. "You – you mean –"

"Exactly that." assured Arianne. "Both of you are officially immortals. Beautiful, isn't it? Never grow old. Never get sick. Never die.

"Hold your fire, everyone." she said, raising her hand to stop the group's words from coming out. "The most shocking is yet to come: I don't think they are the only undying here."

FIVE

Lire's mind was KO'ed. Her head was spinning. _I'm not human. I won't grow old._

_I won't die._

It is right to say that humans are humans because the only certainty they have, since the day they are born, is death. Everyone will die someday, and everything will be left behind. That is the foundation stone of everything a person will do in life. The certainty of death. Right now, Lire (and possibly Ryan) was feeling hollow, violated. That certainty, the only one they always had, had just been torn from them. The sudden revelation that she had an eternity up ahead turned Lire's entire world upside down.

_I won't die!_

Remotely aware of her surroundings, Lire heard Arianne say that they weren't the only undying in that room. Her mind was too catatonic to actually care but, deep inside her heart, something was lit once again. Ryan was like her. He was, right now, processing the same information as her. Facing the same fate as hers. Eternity. And maybe there were even more. _Who could it be?_

She considered that when something, so deep, so primeval, so overpoweringly _intense_ woke up inside her. She felt a surge of energy, reaching up, soaring and taking her senses as a female voice, which screamed in her ears, and for all Lire knew, it could come from her very soul, though it didn't seem like her, she felt the presence, another presence, as if she was possessed…

Feeling her dizziness deepen even more, Lire gave in and fell into a gracious, peaceful faint.

**End of Chapter**

* * *

><p><strong>Afterword: <strong>Merry Christmas! (Wait, that was yesterday…) Well, here is my usual meaningless theatre of things I decide to say to whoever ends up reading the chapter up there. Now that I mentioned the chapter… Small, isn't it? I thought so too. Not fitting for a comeback after a months-long absence, but I can explain: virus. Yes, those archives you accidentally bring into your HDD and that, after some time, make your PC a piece of useless tech-trash. I just brought my notebook back to life (fortunately, for free) and I apologize for taking so long to do so. Now I will only post again next year! (Also known as next week, sorry about the bad joke)

So, have a happy 2012, full of life outside the internet (you, not me, I've been here too long to leave now), review my story if you can, tell me if you find anything exceedingly unexplainable in it (and take into account you may get an answer like "keep reading and you'll know") and make the best of this year that, according to our American ancestors, will be our last.

Oh, and play Dragon Age 2. At least in some way I have to repay the time you spent reading my literary creations, and right now I can't think of any better ways. _Hasta la vista, baby._


	7. The Third Step

**Chapter Seven == The third step**

ONE

Lire woke up in a dark room, staring at a black ceiling. One of Ronan's favorite songs popped up in her head: _I woke up in a black FEMA box; darkness was all around me…_ _In my coffin._ That was insane. _Coffin._ _Why would I be buried?_ And of course, Lire had no clue of what the hell was a FEMA box. The blonde elf girl sat up, verifying that, after all, she wasn't in a coffin. Now, thinking clearly, she recognized Ronan and Lass' room: black walls, many posters and the ridiculously small size of those rooms that were located downstairs. She looked down at herself.

Lire had always been very pleased with her looks. Her pretty, angelic face could disarm any incoming demands or accusations, while her persuasive voice allowed her to get almost anything she wanted with little effort, principally from men. She was no longer wearing the clothes she had on when she was in Lothos' Island (as they had begun to call the place), which were more suitable for a martial arts contest than to a University Dormitory, and had been replaced with normal clothing. _Who changed my clothes?_ After a second's thought, Lire noticed she was missing the main question: how did she get to The Corporation? Walking out of the room, Lire encountered The Corporation's hallway. The darkness was still around her, making her think it was night time. She walked to the hall and, after seeing the dark sky proving her right, she went to the kitchen, even not knowing exactly why.

"You sure took your time." said a voice behind her. Lire let out a short scream and turned, startled, to see who was there. Ronan, smiling, looked back at her, also wearing usual clothes. "It's been about three hours. It must've been a real shock for you."

"Ronan…" she mumbled. "Eh… you… carried me here?"

He nodded.

"And who changed my clothes?" she asked, cautious.

Ronan raised an eyebrow and said, simply: "I did. You didn't expect me to carry you around wearing training suit and still find an excuse for anyone who happened to see, did you?"

Lire's terrified look was swept away a second later by Ronan's laughs.

"I'm just whacking your head." he said, still laughing. "Amy did, before we left."

Speechless, Lire only stared at him as he laughed even harder at her expression of disbelief.

"You had to see your face when you thought I had changed you!" he said, walking to her and into the kitchen. "What do you have there you don't want anyone to see, after all?"

Lire turned bright red, if by anger or embarrassment, not even she knew.

"I – I…" she started, realizing then she didn't know what to say.

"I'm pretty sure –" said Ronan, now standing right in front of her. "– that the body of an elf woman looks exactly the same as a human woman's."

He placed his hands on both sides of her waist and ran them up her body, placing his left hand on her back and his right hand on her breasts. Lire, regaining control of her motion facilities in front of his touch, pushed him away from herself (not an easy task, considering he was about four inches taller than her) with a scream. He didn't put up a fight however, and burst out laughing again.

"Okay –" he said to a confused Lire, after suppressing his laugh attack. "– now you are fully awake, we should get going."

Scandalized, Lire just couldn't believe it.

"_You did that just to wake me up?_" she yelled.

"Keep it low, it's almost ten. And I think a shock works the best against another shock. I shocked you, didn't I?"

"You really don't exist…" she muttered, ignoring his question. "Don't do that again!"

"As you wish." said Ronan, sarcastically.

"I did NOT like that tone!" exclaimed Lire.

"Keep it low." repeated Ronan. "And I can't promise I won't do that again. You really _do_ look good…"

"RONAN!" censored Lire, even more scandalized.

"I'm just being an ass." said Ronan, laughing again. "Come on, I think the others are somewhere out there, celebrating."

"Celebrating for what?" asked Lire, a little more controlled.

"Alas, because we finally finished Arianne's first course. We are now officially Commanders."

Lire remembered the Commandments and, trying to recover from her double shock, turned to the front door and said "_Pateo!"_ The door burst open.

"Ha. I'll never open a door in my life again." she said.

"That's a pretty big thing to say, considering you'll live forever." said Ronan, darkly. "But I would try not to Command Elesis, if I were you. She Commanded Jin into confessing to Lass back in the Island. Looks like she's good at this."

Imagining the scene, Lire laughed weakly and walked with Ronan into the night.

TWO

"What took you so long?" asked Amy, loudly, to surpass the deafening music. "And that's my clothes you're wearing there, Lire."

"Of course, Ronan said you put them on me!" Lire looked at Ronan, suspiciously.

Ronan waved his shoulders. Amy sighed.

"I did, but I thought you would change." she said. "You didn't think Ronan had changed your clothes, did you?"

"He almost talked me into believing he did!" accused Lire.

"Now, come on." said Lass, appearing out of the immense crowd dancing behind him in the night club. "We're celebrating, let's not start pointing fingers at one another. Otherwise, I'd have to point all of my ten fingers at Jin here, _wouldn't I_?" he yelled above his shoulder.

"I've already told you –" said Jin, coming out of the crowd. "– if there's anyone to blame, that'd be Elesis. She Commanded me into it."

"And you can't even put up a damn fight to her. Did you ever hear of free will?" Lass yelled back.

"She never tried it with you, fella." said Jin, angry. "There's no resisting it, she's like the voice of absolute reason in your head. If she says black is white, then black is fucking white and there's no arguing. I wish I could Command like that!"

Lass looked at the crowded club and said:

"And where is she, so I can kick her ass?"

"No clue. But, if I know her, she could probably Command you into kicking your own ass…" said Jin, returning to the crowd and leaving Lass with a very odd expression. He shook his head and said:

"Alright, I'm gonna find some beer. Sieghart's probably already drunk by now, and I can't let my reputation crumble."

"Lass, you know that alcohol will not solve any of your problems, right?" asked Amy.

"Yeah, I know. But does Coke solve any problems? I drink to feel bad, if I wanted to feel good, I'd take some fucking medicine."

"Hey, no need to be rude!" said Amy, offended. Lass drew a deep breath.

"Amy, I'm celebrating the fact I've just been promoted to high-level freak, I'm still sober at –" he looked at his wristwatch. "– five to midnight and I'm trying to get over my friend's sudden confession to me, that would be just fine, if this friend wasn't Jin!"

"But didn't he just say he was Commanded?" asked Lire.

"That doesn't change my memory of it! It was terrible, I tell you! I need to forget that."

Lass walked out too, followed by Ronan, who said "Have fun" before leaving. Lire turned to Amy.

"How did Ryan react? To the…" she couldn't complete it. The immensity of the thing was still there. Amy giggled.

"Well, he took a little longer to go down but, in the end, passed away for a few minutes. Or hours."

"A few minutes…" considered Lire.

"But don't worry!" she hurried to say. "Master said every elf who comes in contact for the first time with their nature will suffer what she called 'neural shock'. It's an adaptation move, it's normal. And, well, I must say that I don't think he understood the whole picture so deeply as you did" explained Amy. "It is pretty harsh on you guys, I guess, and she said something about Lass that made him very worried too, even if he's not up to telling anyone."

"About Lass? Is he the other one?" asked Lire, remembering that one final sentence _I don't think they are the only ones._

"That's a good question. He talked to Arianne in private before we left. We asked him what had they talked about and he told us to leave the important talk to after the hangover. Well, I'm not the drinking type, but I guess I kinda need a good dose of dizziness right now. The bar is over there, 'd you want to come with me?"

Puzzled, Lire nodded and followed Amy through the noisy and dark night club. Maybe she was right. Maybe Lire was, after all, in need for a drink.

THREE

_Leave the important talk to after the hangover._

Elesis recognized it was a good idea. She'd read somewhere that "meals and confabulation don't match", or something in that sense. You just had to change _meals_ into _drinks_ and there you go.

_I'm not in a hangover, however, _she thought. She wasn't used to drinking to breaking point like Sieghart or Lass, and also liked to be on the controls of her own decisions, something that alcohol would surely nullify. That morning, the morning right after their celebration, was warm and clear, and Elesis did not regret her decision of not to give in to the general mood.

After getting out of her bed, Elesis noticed that Mari wasn't in hers. Normal occurrence, since Elesis usually woke up later than most in The Corporation, but she had expected to be the first in that one time, since the others were all probably drunk. _Well, that proves you wrong, girl._ After doing her usual just-woke activities, she moved downstairs, trying not to make any noise since the closed doors in the hallway led her to presume that the others were, after all, sleeping. In a normal weekday, Elesis would be sure where at least Mari was: Middle-End Store. For about three months now Mari had been working at the place, as part of the Tech Support staff, consisted of her, three other workers, a programmer and a trainee. From what her friend revealed, it was a very unthankful job, in which she had to deal with countless types of idiots almost every day. Elesis sometimes wondered if her and Mari understood each other so well because the two of them had terrible jobs. That wasn't a weekday, though, so Mari could be anywhere from the bathroom downstairs to Miami at that time.

Crossing the silent corridors of The Corporation, Elesis ended up in the entrance hall. The sun was almost fully out now. The star's light filled the hall through the windows, and Elesis raised her right hand to a light beam that came through one of them. When the light laid on her skin, she noticed just how pale she was. Arianne had warned them that, the more they used their Inner Presences, the more their physical bodies would resemble the spiritual one. The first change Elesis had noticed was the shape of her face, that seemed to be growing sharper. Then, it was her hair, getting closer to the straight, dark red hair of her Inner Presence. Now, it was her skin, that was slightly tanned before, and now was completely fair, like a newborn's. Also, any imperfections that she used to have and had already got used to, like a scar of a second-degree burn she got when she was six years old, that was now gone.

Lost in her contemplations, Elesis didn't notice when something really odd started happening to her right hand, still under the sun. It was the pain that caught her attention. She felt like someone was sticking small needles into the palm of her hand. When she looked down to it, though, it appeared normal. That was when she noticed that the skin, formerly fair and before that slightly tanned, was now an angry red. In the second that the girl realized that, the pain skyrocketed, making her scream and pull instinctively her hand out from under the sunlight.

That act, though, didn't seem to stop the reaction. The redhead watched, terrified, as her right hand gradually swelled, in an unmistakable burn. She screamed again as the pain grew even more, making her feel like her hand had been soaked in boiling water. She heard, remotely, the doors banging open across the hallway, and the guys running to her, asking what was going on. Someone (blinded by the tears that came up to her eyes, she didn't see who) grabbed the hand she was clutching and looked at it. Out of the blurred world, Lass' voice spoke:

"Holy shit, what did you do with this hand?" He seemed scared.

"What is it?"

"Who was screaming?"

The voices started mixing in Elesis' confused head, until Lass spoke up once again.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. Silence fell. "Someone, get me a wet towel or something!"

There was a sound of stomping feet when someone ran off. Lass, this time, directed to her, in a lower voice.

"What happened to your hand?"

"It – burned" she mumbled. "The sun – burned me –"

"The sun?" asked another voice, that Elesis recognized as belonging to Mari. "She isn't making sense…"

_Really, _Elesis thought, _what sense does it make?_

FOUR

"Done. Now it just looks like you've been scratching it too much."

"Thanks, master." said Elesis, looking at her just healed hand.

Right after the initial shock, the others had regained control and, after covering her skin from the sun, they took her to Lothos, who wasn't exactly a master healer, but knew how to fix small to medium injuries, like broken bones or burns, with Spells. The worse ones, she said, needed ability with healing she did not possess. At the moment, none of them could think of anything worse than broken bones in training environment, since those only happened due to getting hit by wooden swords (or hammers, clubs, dull swords, baseball bats, tables and, in an isolated case, a twelve-meters long sculpture of a spear).

"Just why did she get burned?" asked Lire, who was sitting next to them. "She said it was the sun, but…"

"It was!" confirmed Elesis, heated. "Why do you keep doubting me?"

"Because," intervened Lass. "I've never heard of people getting burned by the Sun so far away from the Equator, even _if_ we count global warming."

"And I say it was the sun! I placed my hand under the light, spaced out for some time and, when I looked, it was burning like I had placed it on top of a – well, it was hurting pretty bad."

"Okay, shut up." said Arianne. "I don't know what happened to you, but if it was really the sun, you should keep off the light for as long as you can. If you have to walk out under daylight, do so covered by something, like a hat or an umbrella. Stay indoors, otherwise."

She got up and looked at Lass.

"I guess there really is something about you guys. First, I find out that two of you belong to a race that only exists all the way across the thirty-three strings, then comes up you, a creature I didn't even know that could exist here, and this girl here, who doesn't stand the sun."

Lire and Elesis raised their eyes at Lass, who looked up at Arianne with a weird face.

"I didn't tell them. Not yet."

"No? All of you are nothing but trouble, I tell you!" said Lothos, harshly.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lire.

"He—" said Lothos, pointing at Lass. "—is a demon. That's why he doesn't feel pain. That's why he heals fast. A pure-blood demon, which means to say, he's son of father and mother demon. It's in his blood. It's always been."

Lire looked at him, more skeptical than amazed.

"I thought a demon would look more intimidating." mocked her.

"I'm not a full demon yet, idiot. Demons have no souls. I still have my own."

Lire looked at him long and sharply. Her thoughts, whatever they were, were interrupted by Elesis:

"So we have two elves, a demon and" – she hesitated. – "whatever I am. What's the chance of this happening in this world, master?"

"Not high." answered Arianne. "Not high at all, almost an impossibility. That's why I will search for other answers for your, let's say, sunburn."

"If you don't find any, then what is it?" asked Elesis.

"Won't say it now. It's pretty bad." said Arianne, darkly. "Right now, we should focus on your training. Lass, go find the others. Take them to the balcony. It's night now, you should be fine." she directed the last sentence to Elesis.

"Yeah… I should." whispered Elesis. On her way out, though, she considered that the Moon reflected the sun's light, which was the reason why it could shine. Shivering, she made her way to the balcony.

FIVE

The full Moon didn't burn Elesis, only made her skin prickle a little. She noticed, marveled, the beautiful effect caused by her pale skin, which was almost glittering under the pearly light. When the others arrived, Lass had apparently filled them in with the news, because no one came to demand any explanations from her. In fact, Mari was the only one to come to her.

"Better?" she asked.

"A lot. What did he tell you?" responded Elesis, indicating Lass.

"Well, he said he didn't know what caused the burn, that Master is suspecting of something about you and that he's a demon –"

"Yeah, that part." interrupted Elesis. "How did everyone react?"

"Not very kindly. Ronan, Ryan and Sieg didn't seem to care, just like me, but Arme was quite scared and Amy told him to stay away from her, like he was carrying some contagious virus, such a stupidity –"

"Did he tell you any details?" interrupted Elesis again. The redhead was aware of Mari's opinions of Amy and her overreactions.

"Not really, he just –" began Mari, being interrupted a third time not by Elesis, but by Lothos, who spoke up to all of them.

"As I know you are aware, I've considered that my part in teaching Commandments to you is now finished. If you want to improve even further, you can do so yourselves, with the knowledge I've passed to you. If any of you wants to stop now, do so. The next step, the third, is much more difficult, for it will teach you not one, but two types of magic: the Skills and the Spells. There's not much I can do to teach any skills to you. What I can do, I'm already doing, and it's teaching you how to fight, how to make your bodies a weapon. If you choose to continue the, in lack of a better word, course, I'll tell you now what you'll be learning:

"You know, up to a certain level, to speak Latin. To do Spells, though, it won't be enough, for most of the known incantations are written in Greek. That is, I believe, used to put a barrier between Commandments and Spells; intended to, in case a Commander wants to use Soulcraft, make his or her knowledge go deeper. So that's another language for you to learn." There was a general moan across the Corporates after that. "Yeah, I understand that you already have to put up with a lot, and you'll be happy to know I'll go easy on your tests, at least on Physics, for that's sake."

The small crowd cheered at those words. Victor said, loudly: "Now _that _sounds better!" Lothos raised her hand to silence them.

"I'll do that, but I want results. To improve your Skills, I'll teach you some specific things that will help you refine your fighting abilities."

"Like what, master?" asked Sieghart.

Lothos looked at him, about three meters away. On the next instant, she was standing right in front of the man, who jumped back immediately (faster than he could have done before, Elesis noticed). Elesis had already seen Lothos move at that ghost-like speed, but it was still quite something.

"Like this." said Lothos, simply. "Instant movement. It has its limitations, of course, but it's one of the most useful things I know."

"Oh, I want to learn that!" said Sieghart, grinning.

Lothos smiled too, then turned away from him and started walking among them while talking:

"Then, if no one wants to speak up, it is on. You're now officially _zannoinen_ apprentices."

They cheered again, this time more enthusiastically. Lire's voice spoke up in the night:

"And when do we begin?"

"Right now!" answered Lothos. "Because of our little accident, we will, from now on, do our group outdoors activities at night. You can save daytime to rest, or to do indoors activities, like the language studies. Now, follow me, ladies. You're about to meet the one part of my, using your nomenclature, island you still don't know: that tower over there."

She pointed to the top of the cliff, to a tower that had always thrown its shadow upon them, but never raised any questions. Its base was round and wide and, as the height increased, its diameter decreased. Closed to the top, it increased in wideness again, and the peak was a wide area that looked like a really large heliport. The side that pointed to the sea (at the peak of the tower, probably five hundred meters down) had an elongation, that ended in a point that was, most likely, a really scary place to stand on.

They followed her through the mansion, and, on the way, Elesis' mind was troubled by two things: first, what suspicions did Lothos have concerning her; and second, how was she going to do Soulcraft if her energy reserves were so annoyingly scarce.

EXTRA – **Mari's Troubled Technician's Life**

Mari answered the ringing phone with her usual one-liner:

"Middle-End stores, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon", answered the costumer. Something in his voice set off an alarm in Mari's mind. "I have an issue with a cell-phone I bought in your store."

Mari covered the phone's mic to sigh.

"Sir, I am the computer technician. The number you should be calling is the third in our card, which redirects directly to the phone technician."

"Then could you pass me to the one who didn't sleep in the phone classes of whatever training you had?" asked the costumer.

Controlling herself as to not simply hang up on that idiot, Mari said over her shoulder:

"Howard, I'm passing a call to you."

She calmly passed the call, before jumping on her feet holding the phone against her mouth and yelling:

"_ASSHOLE!_"

All her co-workers looked at her. After laughing at what they recognized as another stupid caller, they got back to work.

-X-

"Middle-End stores, good afternoon."

"Listen, this is urgent!" said the costumer, loud enough to force Mari to pull the phone away from her ear. "I need to print some documents, but it just won't happen. I need those papers!"

"Okay, calm down. Try sending the files again."

Ten seconds pause.

"It didn't work!"

"Close all current applications and try again", suggested Mari.

Thirty seconds pause.

"It's not working!"

"Try restarting the printer."

"I can't", answered the costumer. "The printer had a malfunction, so I've sent it to the authorized."

Mari stopped trying to figure out the man's problem.

"You're telling me you were trying to print without a printer? How would you possibly do that?"

"Hey, you're the technician, not me! You tell me!"

Mari, furious, cursed loudly and passed the call to Link, the trainee.

-X-

"I'm telling you, the icon to my system folder is gone!"

Mari cooled her thoughts and answered:

"Sir, icons don't just disappear. Either your computer has a virus or that icon is somewhere. Search you trash folder, maybe you put it there and didn't notice."

Mari waited. For long five minutes. _How long can someone take to check their damn trash can?_

"I'm back", said the voice in the phone. _Finally_, Mari thought. "I've searched every trash can in the house, but I couldn't find it."

Mari buried her head in her hands, something hard to do with her glasses, and said.

"I'll pass you to our hard drive expert, Link. He'll guide you through."

That said, she yelled over her shoulder:

"Rookie! I'm sending one to you. Be nice to him."

She passed the call and returned to play pinball in her own PC. _Hard drive expert... only in his dreams._

-X-

"Middle-End stores, good afternoon."

A female voice answered from the phone.

"Lady, I bought a computer in your store, but the keyboard is making me confused. Is there any way to order it alphabetically?"

Mari hung up, took her stuff and called it a day, buying a milk-shake on her way out of the store.

-GRAND FINALE OF THE CHAPTER-

**Afterword:** Imma back, and it's 2012! Unusually fast, I'd like to add. I love vacation. No work, no college and I go to sleep almost at sunrise because I want to, not because I have papers to deliver the next day. I've had some to write too, so that explains why this chapter is out so fast. The next is likely to come out before this month is over too.

About this chapter, I've deemed it too short after I was done saying all I had to say in it (I'll make up for these small chapters, I swear!), so I added a small bonus sub-chapter about Mari and her little issues on her not so relaxing job. Just to break any tension I may have built up. Hope you enjoy it. Middle-End stores don't exist (at least not anywhere I've ever seen, if it does, my apologies), and most of those cases probably never happened. I work with support too, so I kind of empathize with my Mari-chan.

So, typing errors happen, if you see any, tell me. If you also think I'm not making any sense let me know, I will either clarify you or you'll be clarifying me. I've said enough.

As they say in the old country: Taxi!


	8. Speak of the Devil

**Chapter Eight == Speak of the Devil**

ONE

"So, you're not a demon yet?" asked Amy, suspicious.

"I am." answered Lass. "I just… let's say I don't have access to my demonic power yet."

The revelation wasn't much of a shock to Lass as it was to Lire and Ryan, but he was still finding it hard to believe. Even with the irrefutable proofs.

Firstly, there was the lack of pain, which he always thought was a twisted version of Riley-Day, and turned out to be thanks to his demon blood. According to Arianne, he would only feel pain with really grave wounds. Second, he did not know anything about his parents, and that meant saying that they could be anyone. According to Arianne, he was the son of father and mother demon. Pure-blood, that's how she'd called him. And third, there was his quickly recovering, that had nothing to do with blood-cells, but to the blood itself, since it was a trade mark of a demon.

_I'm a demon._ _The kids in elementary school were right, after all._ He; sometimes called the devil's son, other times the devil himself; was actually a devil. Sitting now on the couch of the Corporation's living room, accompanied by Jin, who was playing Resident Evil 5 with him, Ronan, waiting his turn (there were only two controllable characters), Elesis, sitting on the carpet and watching (she disliked third-person shooters) and Amy and Elena, making bets on the winner (the one who got most wins right would be free of doing the dishes).

"How come" – asked Ronan. – "you are a demon, pure-blood, and have no powers?"

"Well, demons don't have souls. If I want to gain access to my full potential, I'd have to give my soul away. Only then I would have these powers that only demons have."

"Like…"

"Like, let's say, something beyond the capabilities of a simple Inner Presence. Greater strength, greater speed, larger energy reserves and the demonic magic, which is almost the same as common Spells and Skills, but imbued with the demon energy, that makes them more powerful and destructive. According to master, that is."

Jin paused the game. Lass looked around to find Ronan, Amy, Elesis, Jin and Elena staring at him intensely.

"Then what are you waiting for?" asked Elena.

"To what?" retorted Lass.

"To do what you have to do to get all that, of course!"

"Hey, I'm not giving my soul to anyone!" exclaimed the demon, fiercely. He had already decided that he would do everything within his reach to not surrender his soul; only in an emergency, he had decided.

"Really?" asked Jin, disappointed. "Pity, I wanted to see what it looked like when you gave it away…"

Lass decided not to comment on Jin's reasons to want him selling his soul. Elena sighed.

"So much potential wasted. I'll tell you what, if it was me…"

"Tell me what?" interrupted Lass. "You don't tell _me_ what, I tell _you_ what. It's my soul on the line. If it was yours, you'd surely make the same decision as me! It not so easy to give your essence away, you know."

"Wait, time out!" said Elesis, making the usual T hand sign. "If you happen to give your soul to someone, then how would you do any Soulcraft, with no soul?"

"My soul wouldn't vanish, but stay with who I gave it to. I'd be totally and completely dependent on such person. I'd never be able to raise my hand against him or her, I'd have to, up to some ways, obey this person, and I'd be bound to life for as long as the person lived, unless I got killed. Making it simple, it's like this: I die, my 'owner' moves on; but as long as he lives, it'll be really hard to kill me. I would also be stopped from committing suicide, if I tried. If the owner dies, the demon's powers are temporarily reduced, while his soul gets used to the new body."

"Wow… that's harsh." commented Elesis. "So, have anyone in mind?"

"I already said I won't do it. Not until I'm forced to by the conditions."

"That meaning…"

"If I have to! If there's no other way! If we can't handle the job, in short."

"_Job?_" asked Ronan, immediately. "What are you talking about?"

"Master can't be training us for nothing. Think about it. She's bound to ask us to do something for her. Coming from her, it can't be good."

These words triggered a larger torrent of voices than Lass had expected.

"What do you mean by _do something for her_?" shrieked Amy.

"But we're not ready yet!" complained Ronan.

"Weren't we going to enter the Spells stage?" asked Elesis.

Lass sighed and, seeing no other way to silence them, expanded his consciousness and muttered:

"_Confuto._"

Ronan, Amy and Elena immediately fell in silence. Jin resisted a little, before gasping and quieting himself as well. Elesis, however, not only put up an iron-like resistance, but also gave him a scornful smile and said:

"I'm afraid that won't work."

Lass felt like his mind was hitting against a stone wall. There was no entrance to Elesis' mind. Nowhere to sneak in from. The redhead's mind was inside an apparently unbreakable shell. Right after he noticed it, she attacked back, and her mental attack was like a wasp trying to enter his skull. Lass was forced to withdraw his mind into a protective position to escape her. Elesis, still smiling, leaned forward to him and said.

"Don't try to Command me."

Lass shook his head enthusiastically, still trying to keep her out. Elesis looked at him for another two seconds, and he though her mind was finally going to crash his. The redhead's smile softened and the mental raid stopped as abruptly as it had begun.

"I don't like being bossed around, Lass. Don't forget that."

Lass grunted, thinking what a strange fact it was that Elesis, who had barely any energy, to be able to use her mind with such mastery.

"You do that again, I'm gonna buy some UV lights, girl." A twisted pleasure assaulted him when a shade of fear crossed the girl's expression.

"You wouldn't!" she said, scandalized. Looking into her green eyes, Lass noticed that, after all, if it came down to it, he _really_ wouldn't. That didn't help his mood at all.

Jin, still beside Lass, slapped the demon's head (already a little twisted, it's worth noticing) and made a funny sound between a scream and a grunt.

"Ah. I'm sorry, but you guys wouldn't shut up…" apologized Lass, quickly deactivating the Commandment. They all gasped at once when their voices were allowed to come out again.

"Don't do that again!" complained Elena.

"Then stop… eh… joining your voices together to make my voice mute." retorted Lass. "Now, you can continue that thing, Jin, or I'm gonna shoot Sheva and you're out."

"Wait." Ronan spoke up before they went back to the videogame slaughter. "You didn't tell us what does master intends to ask from us."

"That'd be because I don't know. I think I was pretty clear, I _presumed_ it. We're going to have to wait and see."

Jin waved his shoulders like _well-there's-no-other-way_ and pressed the Start button, throwing himself and Lass back into the troubled landscape of the Public Assembly of Kijuju, immersed under the control of the Las Plagas.

TWO

"Come on, get up! You have to fall and rise again if you want to improve!" taunted Arianne.

Lass, trying to ignore the pain that took over his right leg and the totality of his torso, got up to face his master again. He always knew it wasn't going to be easy, but now he noticed just how hard it would be.

Up to that point, their physical training didn't require them to do anything especially hard. However when they got to learning the Skills, Arianne insisted on teaching them any fighting style they felt comfortable around. Jin and Victor immediately refused these classes, but that was before Arianne challenged and beat them both at the same time.

"You guys are good," she'd said after the match. "But I've had much more time than you can think to improve my ability. Besides, you still fight like normal people, and if I got serious here, you wouldn't stand even five seconds against me."

Lass was now testifying that Arianne was, after all, a total monster. He was a good fighter, and had always been proud of his speed (some of his sparring partners accused him of being almost invisible), but Arianne took speed to another level: whenever Lass thought he had her cornered, she would hit him, apparently out of nowhere, with that overwhelming strength that he was already learning to fear. Besides, she was never opened for strikes. Lass always thought that his openings were too swift to be explored by anyone, but Arianne always seemed to find a way to hit him where it hurt the most.

To top that off, she had them strictly forbidden of using any kind of Skill, making them fight with only sheer human reflexes. Lass tried to tell himself she wasn't using Skills either, but couldn't think of any other explanations for her speed and strength. Taking a mental note to ask her about that later, he prepared himself for another trouncing when, for the fifth time, Arianne dashed to him, as strong and relentless as if they were only playing chess that whole time.

The outcome of that fifth time, however, was the same as the other four tries: Lass defended from her for a while, trying to see anywhere he could move towards, and when he thought he'd found a vulnerability, Arianne's palm hit him full on the chest, making all the air burst from his lungs. Almost at the same time (Lass didn't notice the time elapse, it was too short) her foot hit the left side of his face, and the pain it caused convinced him that this time he'd gained some broken bones. For the fifth time, Lass went straight to the ground.

"Oops. A little too strong, was it?" asked Arianne.

Lass, in pain with his probably broken jaw, didn't answer. After getting fixed by one of Arianne's extremely useful healing Spells, he was forced to fight five more times (and deal with bitter defeats in all of them) before Arianne was convinced that he was too tired to continue.

"Tomorrow, same place, same time." she'd said before he left.

Lass' schedule was now pretty tight: he had his usual studies to worry about, the Greek studies (unlike Latin, Greek was an absolutely difficult language) and the fight training. None of the Corporates were having an easy time with all this, and so the subject of their races or any requests Arianne could have for them were lost. Even with all that, though, Lass believed he was improving. After two (real) weeks he still wasn't able to defeat Arianne, but, in the last five days, managed to actually fight her (up until that point, he was only getting beat up for free) and their last fight had lasted long twenty minutes.

His development was only eclipsed by Arme, who not only learned before any of them what Arianne called 'basic Greek', but was already authorized to use her Inner Presence and the Skills when on a fight. Also, the purple-haired girl was the first of them to successfully use a Spell. Arianne was, more than ever, convinced that they were born to do that, and that was the cause of their development.

_I'm improving,_ Lass thought, making his way to the Island's Tower. The first practical effect of his training would come right after he left the Island, one day (or six hours) later.

THREE

Lass left the Physics building at eight in the night, feeling tired but immensely satisfied. Arianne had finally given him her approving and, just like Arme before him, he was now authorized to use his powers to fight. Arianne would surely use hers as well, but he wasn't worried about that on the moment. The others were still in the Island, except for Elena, who was on extra classes, and Sieghart and Elesis, who were working on the first's bar (Elesis had been working there for a while now). Lass had left to get himself something to drink.

On his way to Sieg's, he stepped by The Corporation and grabbed some money, as well as his (really old) mp3 player. After that, he left the University's grounds, while the insanely fast beat of _All Nightmare Long_ hammered against his ears.

_You crawl back in, but your luck runs out._

Lass' luck ran out on him at exactly 8:33, when he entered a silent and empty street. He walked for some time, listening now to Kirk Hammett's guitar solo, when he noticed he was surrounded by three men. His suspicions were immediately attended to: two of them were carrying knives, and the third, to his right, had a small handgun. This last one stepped right in front of him, pointed the gun directly to his head and said:

"Quiet. I won't hesitate to shoot."

Lass felt his heartbeats skyrocket when the adrenaline hit his blood like a speeding train. At the same time, though, a strange, cold feeling possessed his senses. He looked into the handgun holder's eyes, and saw anxiety in them. He noticed the heavy breathing of the two knife carriers to his right and left. Noticed they were not only anxious, but also scared. _Could they possibly know they're threatening a demon?_, he wondered. _No, it's impossible. They're just inexperienced._ Inexperienced. He could use that.

Raising his hands, almost as nervous as the trio around him, Lass laughed scornfully.

"You have no idea who you're messing with." he said, putting as much self-confidence in his voice as he could in front of a gun and two knifes.

The result was, apparently, really good: Lass saw a look of shock cross Mr. Handgun's eyes. He heard the Knife Brothers (as Lass thought of them, even though he didn't know if they were related or anything) gasp. That split second of hesitation was all he needed. He summoned his Inner Presence. He felt, as usual, like his skin was releasing from the flesh underneath and, when his transformation was complete, the night was clear as the day. He saw everything, heard everything, felt everything. The three assaulters stepped back when he transformed right before their eyes. One of the Knife Brothers screamed "What the …".

Lass noticed when Mr. Handgun partially recovered from the shock and raised the gun again. Slowly. Lass was amazed by how fast his mind was working: the three of them (actually, the whole world) seemed to be moving in slow motion. Lass easily dived sideways, avoiding the bullet before it was even shot. The shot came, but at that time, Lass was already right in front of Mr. Handgun. The demon grabbed the robber's arm and pushed it upwards, twisting the man's wrist as he did so. There was a cracking sound when the man's bones disconnected. Mr. Handgun's scream echoed through the dark street, while the other two men stared at the empty space Lass had just moved out from. Lass dispatched Mr. Handgun from the fight with an elbow hit on the ribs.

Knowing the Knife Brothers were still there, Lass turned on the spot, dashing to the man to his right. He tried to position his knife, but also he was too slow: Lass' fist had hit his stomach with an almost inhuman strength, that the demon would have considered impossible for himself two weeks ago. The man holding the knife fell to the ground holding his belly and joining his own screams to Mr. Handgun's. The other knife holder started raising his hands, in a surrender gesture, but it was too late. Lass hit him with a roundhouse kick full in the face. When the man hit the ground, though, Lass noticed Mr. Handgun raising his healthy hand, pointing the firearm to him. There was no time to react. With his sharpened senses, Lass saw the man's index finger pressure the trigger. The sound came before the impact. There was a loud _bang_, the fire erupted from the weapon, and the bullet came out, cutting the air. Straight into Lass' forehead.

The pain was incredible. A hundredfold worse than Elesis' mental assault. The world vanished, and Lass thought that the flash of light of the gunfire was the last vision he was taking from his life. The crushing pain to his head was slowly vanishing, as his consciousness drifted away. _So that's how it is. The pain subsides as the mind goes blank._

Or, was it?

Lass felt the pain ease, but his mind wasn't going blank. He could still feel the cold air of the empty street. He could still think straight. He could feel his body getting more and more tired. If he could get tired, then he wasn't dying, was he? The blinding light vanished. The dark of the night returned, and he opened his eyes. He was still standing in front of Mr. Handgun. His blood had stained his clothes, but it had stopped. He led his hand to his forehead, where he could still feel a minor itch. There was no wound. No bullet-opened hole. Just his skin, and the bones and brain beneath. Looking at the blood on his hands, his own blood, the answer came to him. He, even not being a full demon yet, always had hastened healing. It was nowhere close to saving him from a headshot before, but apparently the Inner Presence intensified the process: in the exact moment the bullet hit him, his demon body began to heal itself, draining his energy to erase the deadly wound, making him tired because of the burned energy and saving his life. This time, Lass' smile was involuntary. In short, if he had access to a large energy resource, that auto-healing made him almost immortal.

Mr. Handgun looked like he'd just seen a ghost. _Or a demon, _Lass thought, finding it funny. He laughed, loudly and arrogantly.

"I shot you in the fucking head! What's wrong with you?" screamed Mr. Handgun.

"I warned you. You had no idea who you were messing with."

The man raised his hand and shot Lass once again, this time in the chest. The pain was almost unbearable at first, but it would soon subside, when Lass healed himself once again. He laughed once again.

"You can't kill me!"

Mr. Handgun raised his hand once again, but Lass was ready this time. Focusing like never before in his own soul, he finally found what he'd been searching for ages: the core of energy inside himself, the fuel to his life. In contact with his soul, Lass used the only thing that came to his head:

"I am the master of the Southern Wind. Obey my command, invisible blades." Ordered Lass, feeling his energy leave his body as the wind began to swirl around him. Mr. Handgun seemed completely frozen with fear.

"Spiral Wind Disarmament!"

The wind immediately advanced towards the man on the ground, humming like blades slashing through the air. The first part who got hit was the extended left hand. The blood gushed out when the wind blast slashed it, opening many wounds on the skin. Right after, the body got hit and Mr. Handgun was pushed away by the force of the wind Spell Lass'd used. When the violent wind storm finally settled, there were countless cuts, some pretty deep, all over the man's body, and his clothes were severely damaged by the wind slashes. Lass stood before the wounded man, breathing heavily from the effort of healing from two deadly shots and summoning a spell in less than half a minute. He deactivated his Inner Presence, only to notice his exhaustion growing even more. Looking around for the first time since the attack begun, Lass noticed many lights were shining on the formerly dark street. The shots and screams had probably awakened whoever lived around.

_I already took too long, _concluded the demon, turning around and leaving the area before anything else could happen. Getting to a more enlightened area, he noticed his clothes were stained with blood and that there was a hole on his T-shirt. _Back to The Corporation._

FOUR

"Lass? What're you doing here?" asked Elesis.

"Taking some drinks back to the Island, that's what. Now listen to this…"

Lass sat down in front of Elesis but, before he could talk, Sieghart appeared.

"How am I supposed to work if you want my favorite waitress all to yourself, whitey?"

"Shut up." retorted Lass, harshly. "This is important. I'll be quick."

Sieghart shook his head.

"I have a bar to attend to, Lass. I need my people. You better be pretty _damn_ quick." he said, indicating Elesis and taking his leave.

"I hate it when he talks of me like I'm his…" she hesitated. "… property."

"You're his employee, it's almost the same." commented Lass. "Now…"

He told her briefly of his attack, and made it very explicit and detailed about the part he got shot.

"Wow! Are you alright?" she asked, worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired."

"A_ little_ tired? You recovered from two deadly shots in a row! If it was with me…"

"Firstly, you wouldn't heal, that's demon stuff. And secondly, I only got shot because I thought I'd already won. I should've been more careful."

"That doesn't change the fact itself. That's not good. You should tell master about it."

"Yeah, I think I will." he answered. They were quiet for some time. Elesis was the one to break the silence.

"So, you came for drinks, eh?"

"Yup. Drinks."

"I think I'll take my leave from this hellhole, and we can go together to the Island. Is that okay?"

Lass did his best to hide his satisfaction. He was not yet sure why he'd come to tell Elesis about the fight before anyone else, but he was sure it was the right thing to do. She was very hard to impress, which avoided overreactions, and often knew the right thing to say. Even though he hid his romantic interest towards the waitress from everyone, she was still a rather close friend to him (though he was sure she still thought of him as a ladies man), and he could not help but to walk with her, talk to her or even be nice to her, something he didn't do to everyone. Elesis also had the curious ability to listen to very disturbing information without even blinking. When asked about it, she said she'd developed it after years and years listening to all the bullshit that Sieghart said.

"As you want," he said. "I just don't think Sieg'll let you off the hook so easily."

"I think he will." she answered, with a taunting smile. Lass immediately sensed a challenge, and smile as well.

"I think I'll hear him shouting at you from out here."

"I think you're wrong."

"Then go there and try it. When you come back, bring me a beer, so I can laugh at your uniform once again."

The uniform he referred to was the product of a curious story: after one and a half year directing his bar, Sieghart finally decided on making it into a proper business, and made many changes. The place was much more like a classy bakery now than anything. And, of course, its workers had uniforms, ordered (and partially designed) by Sieghart himself. It wasn't all bad, but thanks to Sieghart's unusual tastes, it was much more revealing than your average work uniform. Lass frequently annoyed Elesis specifically because of that.

"Okay, but if he lets me out, you'll buy me a cake at the shop down the street. Done?"

"You really want to pay Mari's salary, don't you?" the shop in question was a bakery in Middle-End stores. Mari didn't work at the bakery, but at the tech support department.

"_You_ will be paying her salary, not me. Besides, their cakes are better than ours."

"Idiot. They're not good, they're expensive."

"That's why you will pay for it. Just sit and wait."

Turning her back, Elesis entered the employees only door on the other side of the counter, and left Lass picking things to take to the Island.

**Chapter's _The End of the Line_-**

**Afterwords:** Imma back, and before the end of January, as I promised. Yeah, where I live, it was still January when I released this one.

So, this chapter is small too. But we finally have some action! I didn't plan on things happening like this but, well, I didn't plan on a lot of things. Better this way than what I had in mind at the start. The next chapter will be longer, I swear, even if by 50 words or so. If not, I'll tell you where you can find me, so you can come and hang me from my own window.

I personally liked this chapter's name. Better than the other ones I planned. Why is everything I create unintentionally better than what I had in mind? Life's not fair…

Well, we are finally leaving settings to go to where I like it: the events. When the bullets start flying, that's when I like the most (this was just an expression, there won't probably be any flying bullets yet). But now I have to go back to work and all the other things that make me depressed, so, yeah, I'll take a while. Or maybe more than a while. In the meantime, tell me what you think, if I'm doing good, doing bad, leave me a review if you find it necessary and tell me if there's anything wrong or confusing about the chapter. If I can, I'll cast a light on the facts for you. And if I can't, I'll simply quote the Admiral and say "It's a trap!"

Thanks for reading (and sorry for wasting your time, if you didn't like) and until next time.


	9. Assignment

**Chapter Nine == Assignment**

ONE

The night was warmer than before.

"Remind me later of never making a bet with you again, okay?" grunted Lass, leaving the bakery side by side with a radiant Elesis, and feeling like he'd just been assaulted again.

"Come on, there's nothing bad about losing sometimes." she answered, brightly.

"Did I ever beat you in anything?"

Elesis reflected for a second and said, confident:

"Videogames!"

"Bah! Videogames don't count. You never put money on gaming bets."

"Because I know when I have no chance. _You_, on the other hand, shouldn't doubt my persuasive abilities. And this –" she raised the paper pack she was carrying. "– wasn't even their most expensive one, so take that look off your face."

"Oh, it wasn't their most expensive!" exclaimed Lass, sarcastically. "What a relief. I really should be hopping here!"

Elesis ignored his sarcasm, and just kept walking. Something came to Lass' mind.

"Just what did you do to talk Sieg into letting you go, anyway? Promised him a date?"

"I said that, if he did so, he'd be screwing you. It was pretty easy."

"The bastard." cursed Lass, angry. "He'll see who's screwed when I decide to go all demonic on his proud ass."

"It'd be really funny to watch him stick a knife on you and just get a laugh back at him." said Elesis, daydreaming. "I'd do it myself, were I capable of doing a Spell like you. You used air, right?"

"Air blades. I may have overreacted; the damage was way far ahead of what I imagined."

"No way, he deserved it."

"Yes, I guess he did. But, really, I may have left him without his right hand just because of a music player and twenty box I had in my wallet."

"Now I got a good one." interrupted Elesis. "How come you were able to dodge bullets but couldn't hear them coming?"

"I was listening to music! And it wasn't just any music: it was Metallica, girl! You have to pay attention when you listen to the masters."

"What a lame excuse. You know, it just crossed my mind that you may have made all this story up." retorted the redhead.

"Made up? Why would I make such a story up?"

"I don't know…" she hesitated. "To impress other people."

"Nice try, but not." refuted Lass, firmly. "If I had made things up, I wouldn't put myself in the role of the guy who takes two bullets just because he got distracted. It looks very bad on my report."

"Have you told anyone else about it?" she asked, suddenly. Confused, Lass denied. She immediately smiled, triumphant. "That proves, then, that you made it up just to impress me."

An alarm set out in Lass' mind. He hid it behind a mask of indifference.

"I didn't make it up, goddamn it. Why would I want to impress you, to begin with?"

Her smile faded a little, and she lowered her voice to answer.

"I don't know. But I am impressed."

TWO

The spring was passing by. The weather was notably improving, walking into the summer, when the city would be full of tourists and vacationers. The Island, though, ran on its own timeless pace; the Corporates' training was at its fullest, but the place itself was always unscathed.

With time, Lass began to notice that, the more he would use his Inner Presence, the more it would come closer to his outer looks. That was somewhat good, since he was noticing many female gazes upon him lately, but it was also disturbing, considering he was now not only insensitive to pain, but also capable of completely ignoring minor wounds, simply because they would immediately heal, consuming a small fraction of his energy. Greater, more threatening ones would make him tired, but otherwise unharmed. While, in his Inner Presence, he could last two hours straight fighting Arianne. Not because he was as good as her in hand-to-hand combat, but because whenever she would hurt him, break his bones or any thing like that, he would just jump back onto his feet and continue the fight, ignoring the pain he only felt for a moment and the sudden but not exhausting deduction in his strength.

At that point, it was clearly visible those who were having difficulties and those who were excelling in both fight and magic. Arme was the maximum of improvement: not only she was already acquiring domain over the Greek language (just like Latin, Arianne didn't want them to actually speak Greek, but to at least know enough to create Spells), but her magical skill was astonishing. The first Spell she had fully under her order was a fireball spell. Arme liked it so much she was trying to improve it, and was now learning the spell Meteor Strike, an evolution of her fire spell, Flame Meteor (in Greek, Phloga Meteora). In opposition to that, though, she didn't have the fighting ability of the others.

Lass, on the other hand, grew better at hand-to-hand combat exponentially. He was now able to move faster than the normal eye could see, and strike with enough strength to snap bones with a single punch. While in Rupture state (the term Arme had found in one of Arianne's books for the act of releasing your inner self), Lass was able to smash through concrete walls and was trying, with a lot of effort, to learn how to domain Spells (with little response, though).

The counterpoint of this development was Elesis. Just as Arme, Elesis had already completely learned a Spell, but a single shot at it would put her in an exhausted state, so little were her energy resources (a cruel paradox, considering Elesis had always been very active and full of energy). Also, for some reason, her Rupture would expand her energy just like a spell, something that, according to Arianne, was not normal. To make things even worse, she had a limited time for training: the night. A reason was yet to be found to her "allergy" against the sun, therefore, she had been avoiding it as much as she could, something that, aligned with her deficiency at magic, was leading her into a depressed mood.

"But at least you are not under risk of having to give your own soul in exchange for power." Lass had said, after the redhead returned from one of her nocturne training sessions, tired and disappointed with herself.

"You don't know what it's like" she'd answered. "You already have power, and you get more day after day. I don't. I can't even properly transform! I can't do Spells! And furthermore, I don't seem to be improving in any of this a single fucking bit! If it keeps up like this, how in the world am I going to do anything alongside you guys? I'd be just a burden." she concluded, looking like she was about to cry.

"Just… don't think about it, then. Master may be capable of finding a way you can overcome or avoid that weakness. You may not have to stay like that forever."

"You didn't understand. Before I began doing this, using Spells, Rupturing, Commanding, I was normal. More than that, I was good at many things. But now, it's all falling apart in here." she placed her hand on her temple. "I can't think straight or focus on my studies. I can't walk a single mile without having to stop for at least half an hour. I can't even eat some things because my stomach can't take them. I'm breaking, Lass, little by little, and it began when I started doing all this. Maybe I'm not cut out for this, like the rest of you. Maybe I… just can't do it."

Thinking her words through, Lass had no answer to that.

THREE

The iron door, which had been always closed, was finally open.

It was Arianne's arsenal.

The arsenal contained many different weapons, and Arianne had always kept it locked claiming her students were not ready to have a true weapon. Up until that point, they'd only used training weapons, mostly made of wood. In that day, though, when Arianne said they could no longer have significant improvement without a weapon of their own, she decided it was about time they picked a style to themselves.

And that meant a true weapon, worthy of a Soul Crafter.

"Look around", said Arianne. "Ask me about anything; mainly because there're some things here you can't take."

They all entered the large room, and started looking at Arianne's impressive collection of rather dangerous weapons. Sieghart was the first to yell out:

"Hey, Master, what's the difference between this thing and a regular sword?" he raised a long and broad sword. At that distance, Lass couldn't actually tell if it was different from a regular sword. _It's probably something on the weight or whatever_, he thought, leaving the matter and focusing on the task at hand: choose a weapon to himself. He didn't want swords or anything too heavy, for such a thing would slow him down. Right now, he was looking at a set of different daggers, wondering if they were light enough to fight with and still maintain a considerable speed. He noticed the daggers were set in pairs. _Curious._ He took up a pair, and realized he would hardly find anything more suitable for him: the daggers were sharp, sharper than he'd ever seen, and even though small, were clearly fast and deadly. Lass had read somewhere that a blade should not be too sharp, or it would be useless against anything harder than bread, but those daggers looked like would be able to cut through a hog's skull unscathed. Lass slashed one of them, and heard the characteristically high sound of a sharp blade cutting the air. He tried the other daggers, but none were as good as the first pair. Taking them up, he walked to Arianne and showed the daggers to her.

"These?" she asked, taking them up. "Wise choice; they are the best I have for someone like you, who relies mostly on speed. I remember when I got them from a stupid guy who gave it to me for a ridiculously small price in such a piece. Very good deal, it was" she concluded, with a funny look.

"Just how did you manage to get all these things, huh?" asked Lass, waving his hand at the weapons, enough to arm rather nicely a large company of warriors. "I'd say not all of them were as cheap as these daggers, right?"

"I didn't pay for most of them", responded Arianne, laughing. "Took them from their previous owners' dead bodies or bones or whatever. But those are most commoner weapons. The daggers you have are an exception. If you're looking for something truly rare, than that's what you'll be wanting to see."

She walked to the back wall, where a glass case wrapped a shinny sword, with a richly decorated red hilt, and an even more richly decorated red sheath. Lass thought, impressed, that there would hardly be any collector in the world that could claim to have such a piece: he could notice that it was, by far, the most valuable piece in Arianne's collection. Anyone with a little understanding of sword craft would pay any price for that one. And there was even more: even from a distance and separated from it by an obviously thick glass, Lass could sense in the sword magics of a far greater power than anything he'd ever seen, feeling it as a vibration in his mind when it neared the blade with its influence radius.

"That one is mine" said Arianne. Lass heard a notch of pride in his master's voice, and considered that he could not blame her for it. "That is the Sword of the Enemy."

Lass neared the glass case, feeling the sword's magic even more. _I feel like the sword is more powerful than me._

"Why does it feel so…" Lass couldn't find a word to describe his feeling. After a second, he came up with something. "… powerful, master?"

"Because it is. It was made in the All-World by the elven and human blacksmiths, in the days of their glory. It is older than anyone in this room, probably older than anyone in the Old World. One of a kind. It is a truly unique piece, in the whole Omniverse."

Omniverse was the word Arianne used to refer to Creation as a whole, including all the realities scattered across the Strings. Lass looked at the sword, imagining how it crossed countless centuries and countless realities to end up lying (better said, floating) in that room, in from of him.

"And how did you get that one?"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait", she responded.

"Wait for…"

"You guys _will_ know my past, but only when the time comes. Now let me see if anyone else finished choosing."

When Arianne turned and left him, he considered trying to touch the Sword of the Enemy, but in second thought, he realized it was probably kept under so many protective spells he would die before even touching the case.

_Never trust anyone who has a valuable item,_ he thought, turning around to watch the others pick their weapons.

FOUR

Elesis raised the weapon she had chosen, a sword with black hilt and an equally dark blade: it was iridescent with a black light, which seemed to shine from within the blade. The sword was roughly 83 centimeters long, straight and balanced, made for one handed and two handed combat, this feature completed by the unusually long hilt, capable of comfortably be held by two hands. It accompanied a simple black sheath, made of wood and bearing a word inscribed with red Greek letters: Καταστροφή. Undoing.

"I, former owner of this item, give it to you now, Elesis, and I hope it will help you and bring misery upon those you consider your enemies."

Elesis sheathed the sword, smiling, and answered:

"Isn't it a bit strange for me to carry around undoing to battle?"

"Well, think of it like this: you'll be striking your enemies with undoing", suggested Arianne, turning to Lire.

The elf raised her weapon: it was a bow. But not a normal bow: it was crafted in the All-World, and that meant it had something special. As long as its owner had any energy, the arrows in the quiver would not end. It was a war longbow, and the very fibers of its wooden structure were impregnated with commandments, so that it would not easily break or miss. Its string was also commanded, so that it would not snap and cut off the archer's fingers. It had a small silvery plate on the front, engraved with the image of an eagle. A beautiful piece. It didn't have a name, though.

"Lire Versignassi, is that your choice?" asked Arianne.

"Yes", confirmed Lire.

"So be it. Will you name the weapon?"

Lire had already considered that, and decided on a name that she saw fitting.

"Seal of the Eagle", she said.

"Then it's yours. With elven eyes, you'll hardly miss a shot."

"Thank you, master." She backed away. Arme followed.

Arme's choice was an odd one. There were certain items that conducted with minimal losses the activation energy (the energy that a spell required to function) of a spell cast by its holder. They were usually made as to be not useful for melee attacks for a simple reason: any trustworthy weapon needed Commandments and Spells placed on its material in forge, otherwise they would break easily or easily become dull. To make the amplifying effect, any item also had to be Commanded or Spellbound during craft. The crafting of anything that was both sharp and magically powerful required an ability that most crafters didn't possess. Therefore, the staff on Arme's hand was simply that. A staff. Capable of conducting energy. Arianne had explained to them before.

"The concept", she'd said, "is similar to that of electricity conduction. There are certain materials that are capable of conducting magical energy, that is, to let energy pass without losing too much on the process. There are also materials who are isolators, and usually are used to make shields or armor to block magical attacks. Theoretically, there are also perfect conductors, who conduct energy without losses, or even superconductors, capable of amplifying a magical charge. It is unknown if there is such a thing as a perfect isolator, though I think not."

Under the laws of the All-World, staves could not be named.

"You choose Spells over Skills, then, Arme Kennedy?"

"I think that, if I'm doing good at the Spells, there's no reason I won't try to improve them. And this seems like the right object to do so."

"Fine."

Arme backed away, and the next to step up was Lass. He was still holding the pair of daggers from before. Even though they looked the same, a more detailed analysis would reveal the two to be different: the first one, that should be held by the right hand, was slightly heavier than the other, for the purpose of being the first one to strike, and it was called Or-Könia, ancient language for "striker cleave". The second, to be used by the left hand, was sharper than the first, and its blade was made of a harder material; it was called Trisarkria, meaning "armor splinter". According to the law, the names were in the left-right hand order, so they were Trisarkria and Or-Könia.

"These two, then. You have a good eye for weapons, Lass Stronghold." praised Arianne.

"I chose those who felt the best in my hands, Master." answered Lass.

"And that's how the true warriors choose their weapons. You will be successful with it, I'm sure of it. They suit your style."

Lass backed off, and his place was taken by Ryan. He was carrying a most shown-off weapon: an enormous axe, probably heavier then all of the previously chosen weapons together, slow and, to top everything, its decorations, hilt and even the double blades were intensely orange-colored. The axes, for being weapons that were not considered honored in the All-World (according to Arianne) had no name, like Arme's staff.

"You do know that this thing will considerately slow you down, don't you?" asked Arianne.

"I do, master. Speed doesn't suit me. This –" he indicated the axe. "– will be much more useful."

"Speed doesn't suit you?" Arianne seemed displeased. "Well, I'll let it go this time, but someday we'll have to work on that. It is a potential weakness, and should be removed."

"No one can be perfect, master", muttered Ryan.

"But where would we be if we didn't seek perfection? We need to always try to remove our flaws; otherwise they will take us over."

Lowering his head, Ryan stepped back, substituted by Ronan. At first sight, his weapon was a sword, no different than Elesis'. But Lass had talked to Ronan before and came to know that the blade was made of a strange semiconductor steel. It was made for spellcasting as well as sword fighting. Since it was a magical device, it could not be named. _Strange laws rule the naming of weapons in the All-World, _Lass reflected.

"Spells _and_ Skills. This is what I expected from you. Good, Ronan, very good."

"Thanks, master. I believe the best way to become skilled in both is by using a weapon that already is such a thing."

"Good thought. We'll work on that."

When Ronan stepped back, Amy took his place, holding the most uncommon weapon so far: two round things, roughly the size of a really large plate, with sharp edges and incrusted with five pearls each. The pearls on the two of them were shaded with the same color, but in a single one of the objects there were no same-colored pearls. They were hollow, basically a pair of bladed rims. Lass wondered what was the name of those weapons, what name (or names) would Amy give them.

"Chakrani. They use these to cut in motion. They are very versatile." explained Arianne.

"They certainly look like it. Do they get names?" asked Amy.

"No. They are made of conducive material, and these things on them aren't pearls, are batteries."

"Batteries? For what?"

"Energy. Some things, found around the world, are capable not only of conducting energy, but also storing it indefinitely. We call them batteries. They are mostly these pearl-like stones, but can also be other things. Diamonds are excellent batteries. The more perfect the battery is, the more energy it can store. They are used a lot in the All-World, for powering things like buildings or ships. Of course, there are also less noble uses, such as powering magical cannons, barriers. Militarized units. _Kishin _units_._ Once it runs out of energy, all you have to do is bury it at a strategic place. It will recharge feeding from the energy of the Strings."

"Hey, master", asked Sieghart. "Just what is an Ki-whatever?"

"_Kishin _units are giant creatures made of ancient technology and powered by magical energy. They obey those who they are programmed to obey. Basically, a very strange APC. They are incredibly powerful, and I speak out of experience here, incredibly hard to kill."

"Just how giant?"

"Roughly one hundred meters tall."

They all gasped at once. Lass let out a low whistle.

"A hundred meters…" he tried to imagined the thing, with no success. Leaving the Kishin-anything for later, he focused on Jin, who had followed Amy. He had chosen some kind of glove, apparently made of red leather and steel. There was a single pearl-like battery attached to it.

"You guys surely pick some strange weapons. I never thought you'd bet so much on physical prowess, Jin", commented Arianne.

"Punching is what I do best, master", he answered. "Though, not as good as you", he added, depressive.

"You'll get there, someday. Now, gauntlets get names, if you want one."

"I'm not that creative. I wish it was like Elesis', hers already had a name when she picked."

"Fine. It's not mandatory, anyway". Jin backed, and was replaced by Victor. His weapons were two stick-like things, one for each hand, with bladed ends. One punch with that, if achieved with the right angle, could be deadly.

For the first time, Arianne looked impressed.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "These are very difficult items to use. Few are those who can actually achieve mastery in the use of Vajra."

"Well, then I'll have to work twice as hard, right?" said Victor. "I'll do it. If I master these things, then I bet I'll be better than now."

"Certainly. Much better than now. Vajra are conductors, so…" Victor got the message and backed off. Sieghart was next. His sword, slightly shorter than Elesis and Ronan's, was also apparently heavier and significantly wider. Its hilt was designed in a strange way: to be held backwards. Gladius was the weapon and Moriarth was its name. Champion's Call. It had a sheath as well, black and white with the gladius' name written.

"Another hard-to-use one. You like challenges, don't you?" said Arianne. It was a rhetorical question, but Sieghart answered:

" What is life without hardships?"

Arianne giggled.

"Indeed. Challenges are good, they give you something to go on for. Then the Champion's Call is yours, Sieghart, for as long as you want it."

The next was Mari. Hers was not a weapon, in Lass' opinion. It was a heavy, thick and curious-looking book. _What can a book do to help against anything?_, he wondered. When Mari held up the book, though, Lass noticed it was different than any book he'd already seen. Its cover was made of a shimmering metal, and its edges were dangerously sharp. There was nothing written on it. Not a single name, writer, nothing.

"A book?" asked Jin, looking puzzled.

"This is no simple book", said Arianne. "This is a grimoire. These items are enchanted to hold much more information than you can think, and some of them go as far as to 'update' themselves, so that their information will never get old or rendered useless by new ones. Their only letdown, though, is that the self-updating ones cannot be put in a specific order and, trust me, the apparently random pieces of information you'll find can be annoying."

"I noticed that it was something else", said Mari. "I felt the energy within it. Not nearly as much as there is in that sword of yours, of course, but it's there."

"It would hardly have as much energy as my sword, indeed. But that's not a standard you should be adopting; didn't I tell you already that sword is more powerful than any of you?"

"For now", said Mari, with a half smile. Arianne returned her smile.

"Yes. For now."

Mari was followed by Elena, which was the last and was carrying something that looked like Arme's staff, except it was significantly longer, being more than four feet long. Elena wasn't as much of a natural for Spells as Arme was, but her greatest objective was to be the most powerful among them, and she would go as far as to study for herself sometimes. That staff looked like a powerful weapon from Lass' perspective, and it was obviously made for Spellcasting.

"So", said Arianne. "Just as an introduction, this is a War Staff. These things are rare items, and also very expensive. They make some really powerful Spells."

"Expensive, eh?" commented Elena. "And did you pay for it?"

"No way. Got it from a Soul Crafter I beat some time ago. At the time, I had a use for it."

"And now you don't?"

"I don't. You do. It's yours now, so take care of it. If you ever pay a visit to the All-World and don't deem necessary to have it anymore, I know some people who'd pay a lot of money for it."

"I don't think that'll happen, master", answered Elena, returning to her position.

Arianne looked more serious now, as she said:

"So, it is done. You are now owners of your own weapons. For a true Soul Crafter, one's weapon should be part of one's self, as much as this one would have put his trust in his weapon as well. And since now you are on the way to becoming true Soul Crafters, I will tell you of your first mission.

"If we want to keep in touch wherever we go, no matter if we are in different countries or different realities, we need something that's called Point-of-View Link."

She made a pause, and Ronan asked:

"And what's a Point-of-View Link?"

"It's just a simple device that allows two or more minds to be linked in a way that the one who holds the device can see things by the other one's eyes. It's easy to be made and doesn't require too much handiwork. There is, though, a small problem.

"One of the things necessary to make a POV Link is a red metal known as Saturnite. It is rather common in the All-World, but here, all the way across the Strings, it's incredibly rare. Also, because of isotopic and physical similarities, it is always taken as common iron. It is hard to calculate how much Saturnite is there fused in these iron machines, but I know for sure about this one piece of Saturnite that lays close to here. I said before that I intend on taking you to the All-World. To do so, I must make sure that we can speak to each other wherever we may go. So your first mission, which I ask of you as your master, will be to get me that piece of Saturnite."

**CHAPTER END**

**Afterword: **Yeah, check the next chapter's afterword. It speaks for both.


	10. A Night at the Museum

**Chapter Ten == A Night at the Museum**

ONE

The Corporates looked at their master, whose expression was as unreadable as always, trying to get some trace of sarcasm or fun from it.

"Get you this Saturnite?" asked Jin. "Get it from where?"

"Oh, you want the details right now?" Arianne asked back at him. "That would hardly be a good thing, since you're not going anytime in the next three weeks or so. I intend on sending you in the first week of July. If I told you the details now, you'd probably forget them by the time you'll really need."

Mari cleared her throat loudly.

"Sorry, Mari, I meant no offense", added Arianne, quickly.

"None taken", she retorted. "And if you don't want to send us now, why _tell_ us now?"

"Because now you have an objective. These three weeks will be the time you'll have to get used to these weapons you chose and to get as good with them as you can get."

"Will that really be necessary?" asked Amy. "I mean, all we'll have to do is find that metal for you, isn't it?"

"You won't have to find, I know where it is. I said you'll take it and bring it to me."

"Take it? I don't like the sound of that. Take it from whom?"

"The Grand Museum of Anthropology, in Jacksonville."

Most of them blurted out a "what". Amy spoke up again:

"You want us to rob a museum?" she asked, scandalized.

"The thing is in there. Or rather, will be, in the first week of July. It'll be part of an exhibition of minerals. It is a rather large nugget, and it'll be exemplifying iron ore. There will be security, of course, but nothing that a group of twelve Soul Crafters can't take care of."

Sieghart seemed upset as well.

"Steal! That's what you're asking from us. Steal from a private museum!"

"Pretty much, yes", said Arianne, in an authoritarian voice. "Got a problem with that?"

"If you want to steal, then you should do it yourself, not send someone else to take the blame for you!" he answered.

_He's sure got guts, _reflected Elesis, looking at her cousin's defiant expression. Arianne's expression, though, was twice as scary.

"Take the blame?" she asked. "If you do your job right, Sieghart, there will be no blame to take. A skilled Soul Crafter can enter, take whatever he wants and exit a more secured place by himself, without being even seen. You'll be twelve. Even if there is a fight for it, you can win without being recognized. I'm not sending you to do my dirty job, Sieghart, I'm sending you so that you can see the true nature of what you can do now."

Sieghart, even though still angry, remained quiet.

"Besides, I don't know if you ever heard it, but there's this saying: Let bad things wait for their time to happen. You are worrying for something that might not even happen. Why don't you worry about now instead of tomorrow, for a change? This goes to all of you."

"But master," said Ryan. "If we're really going into this, then shouldn't we, at least, know the place?"

"What, you've never been to Jacksonville before?"

"Well, yes, but not looking for a museum."

Arianne sighed.

"You don't need to. You'll know when the time comes that the security and the protection that simple humans can provide will do little to stall you. There's still an idea in your minds, that you can't get past an alarm system or that you can't assault a place because there's a trained guy with a handgun at the entrance. What's frightening you is that idea, and as long as it exists, you'll still be too frightened to become all you can become. To free yourselves, you have to prove to yourselves that you are more than these things.

"Now, who will be the first to test themselves against me?"

TWO

Ronan placed his left arm more comfortably in the improvised white support, grinding his teeth at the pain. His arm was not broken, but it got close to it enough to put him out of practice for a while. All of the Corporates were now in The Corporation, and Ronan was not the only one to show signs of recent wounds. Lire's right femur was broken when she fell (or rather, was thrown) from a balcony and hit the ground almost thirty feet and five seconds later; Arianne fixed the bone immediately, but her healing skills were not good enough to put the leg completely where it should be, so Lire was now walking in a way that slightly resembled Dr. House's, until Arianne could find a way to completely restore the elf. Jin and Victor were both with at least two broken fingers and Sieghart was complaining about all of the joints of his sword-wielding arm, the right one.

Completely uncaring about any of this was Lass, who not only was better than all of them with his daggers, but also could get hit as much as he wanted. As long as Mari could follow, he had five broken bones during the last training session. At a time, she'd watched as Lass and Sieghart exchanged some hits: Lass won. Sieghart had passed through the demon's defense and managed to break two of his ribs. Believing the match to be won, he lowered his own guard, which was all that Lass needed to chain twelve slashes and kicks and knock Sieghart out of the fight. Mari felt strangely upset by the belief that nothing could hurt Lass.

All that time, even with their own weapons, the Corporates were ordered by Arianne to magically block the deadly items' bladed edges, so that they could get used to their weapon of choice's weight and shape, but do so without slicing each other to death. Elesis' sword, though, was apparently immune to magical manipulation, because the spell used to cover the blade just didn't work when she tried it. For that reason, she was forced to look for two hours in Arianne's weaponry for a sword just like the Undoing, but not magically shielded.

"You use this one to train with me and your colleagues, and if you ever join a serious fight, you use the Undoing", Arianne had said, after placing the cover spell on the unnamed substitutive sword.

Ronan went back to the present when Lass entered the living room, carrying two cans of beer. The demon offered one of the cans to Ronan.

"Thanks", he said, opening it with his teeth. It was a trick Sieghart had crated exactly for situations like that one, when one of the drinker's hands was incapacitated.

Lass opened his own can and, after a long gulp, asked:

"Do you know that beer is bad for broken bones?"

"Who said that?" asked Ronan. Lass simply waved his shoulders. "Besides, my arm's only swollen, the bone's already fixed. But even if it was bad, who cares? It's not like it's good for anything else. I don't understand beer. I mean, it's almost a poison, and it still only loses to water in the 'top most consumed drinks'."

"Know what I don't understand?" said Lass. "Pizza."

Ronan laughed.

"Pizza?"

"Yeah, I mean, pizza is weird. It's round, but it comes in a square box and we eat it in triangular pieces. How the fuck does _that_ work?"

"You're fucking crazy. My arm's killing me and you talk about shapes. How many of these—", he raised his can. "—did you already have?"

Lass ignored him.

"So it's still hurting?"

"It will get better. Wish I had your power, right now."

"No, you don't. Today I was reading this book I found in master's library, which spoke about the history of the demon race. My race. And all the bullshit we did throughout the history of the All-World."

Something in Lass' tone told Ronan that can of beer wasn't even close to his first one.

"So you actually believe the All-World exists?"

"Is there a reason not to believe? Hell, when this year began, I didn't even believe in demons. Now I'm one of'em."

"Well, I'll only believe in another reality once I see one."

They were quiet for a minute, drinking, and then Ronan asked:

"You said something about the bullshit the demons did in the All-World. Got any more info on that?"

"Do you remember when master told us about the First Born, how they were powerful, wise, all perfect and everything?"

"Yes."

"And do you remember how they were wiped out down to the last in this event that come to be known as The Scourging?

"Yup."

"Guess who scourged them", said Lass, darkly.

"The demons vanquished the First Born?" Ronan said, surprised.

"With the help of some god-like entity they came in contact with. And that's not all of it. There was this place in the All-World, a kingdom, with a strange name, Kuna, Kauna, I don't remember. It was a place where both humans and elves sought to live and grow equally, or so the book said. The demons destroyed it as well."

"Why? Any grudge against humans or elves?"

"Beats me. Maybe they were just jealous for not being included in this surface Rapture."

Ronan remembered the undersea city, with its dark tunnels and savage Splicers, and felt a chill run down his spine.

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I don't", Lass retorted, surprising Ronan. "It's not like I was there to do it. It was, like… a long, long, long, long time ago."

"How long?"

"Let's see…" he stopped to make some accounting. "The Scourging happened more than two thousand years ago, and Ka-whatever's destruction was a little less than one and a half millennium after that… That puts it somewhere six hundred years before now."

"Wow, long indeed. Can't even picture two thousand years in my head. I'm eighteen and I already feel old."

They remained quiet for some time, Ronan drinking and Lass thinking, since the demon had already finished his beer minutes ago, until Ronan asked:

"So, any candidates for owner of your soul?"

"Anyone I can sell it to for nice green papers."

"Green like recycled paper?"

"Money, you shithead."

"So it's literally selling your soul, is it?"

"Quite literally."

"Ok, now stop joking. You said you could do it in a desperate situation, and now we have a mission. What if you need more power?"

"I won't do it. Can we change the topic? Like talk about _your_ soul, instead of mine?"

"Come on", pressured Ronan. "Are you really telling me that if you were to find yourself in a situation where it would be this or watching, let me see… Elesis dying, you would just let her go?"

Lass didn't remember ever telling Ronan about his feelings for Elesis.

"Why her?" he asked, cautious.

"Well, Lire says you like her. Since she's never wrong about this sort of thing…"

"Did she mention any proof of such a claim?" interrupted Lass.

"In fact", said Ronan, incisively. "She did. She said that you have difficulty in lying to Elesis, that you look at her longer than at anyone and that you like to overpower her."

Lass decided to skip the first two accusations, in face of the shocking third.

"'Like to overpower her'? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You beat me in videogames, and you just move to the next opponent. I beat you, you never even once complained. Now, if you lose to _her_, you are extremely bothered, and if you beat her you brag about it. Need more proof?"

"And what's that got to do with liking someone?"

"How should I know? I'm not a psychostrist, or whatever they're called."

"Fuck me sideways! Does that girl's got nothing to do?"

Ronan laughed, finding his friend's imprecations ironically funny.

"Fuck me sideways… it's been a while since I heard that one."

Lass ignored that when something much more terrifying than being fucked from the sides came up to his mind.

"Does she know?"

"Is this a confession?"

"Just answer me!"

"You are upset!"

"ANSWER!"

Ronan didn't let himself get intimidated.

"I wanna hear it from you. Say you like her."

"That's fucking childish!" cursed Lass.

"Say it!"

Lass weighted the consequences for a second and, extremely angry for letting himself get cornered to the point of having to do that, said:

"May the gods of thunder strike me down! YES, I like Elesis! I like her, and I would never just watch her die. If I could help it, I'd give my soul to do so. Happy now?" he asked, furiously.

"Hell yea!" exclaimed Ronan, triumphant. "I got it! You said it! Who'd have thought _I_ would be the one to get a confession from you. Suck on this, Lire, you are out, _I am_ the Man!"

He started laughing very hard, and stopped ten seconds later when he moved his arm the wrong way and it launched a spire of pain up his shoulder.

"Now answer me. Does she know?" asked Lass.

"No, she doesn't. Want me to tell her?"

"If wanted her to know", said Lass fiercely, getting on his feet. "I'd tell her myself."

He stormed out of the room, leaving Ronan there, sitting on the couch and still laughing.

THREE

Timeless Orb No. 14533, July 1st, 2009.

Lass looked at the blue jewel in his hand, suspicious.

"You want me to believe that my daggers… _both_ my daggers, are in this piece of rock?"

"I already said the 'piece of rock' is a joker", retorted Arianne.

"And what exactly is a joker, if not Batman's enemy?"

"Is a stone that, instead of storing magical energy, is capable of storing magically infused matter. Like your weapons."

"And why's it called joker?"

"Aren't you asking too many questions? It's because, before using the stones, we had to use Spellbound cards, and the people liked to call it jokers. The name simply _caught_."

"And how do I get them out of the… joker?"

Arianne took the stone from his hand and said "Forth!" in Latin. One of the daggers came up on her right hand, and the other on the left.

"Like this", she said, simply. When she said "Retreat", also in Latin, the daggers disappeared, being replaced by the blue joker. Lass took the stone from her hand.

"Amazing", he commented. "Much more practical than walking around with them. Only bad is you'll become a burglar magnet carrying a pretty stone like this around."

"That's not a problem, there are sockets for these. It makes them hard to be found out. Once you go out on your mission, you'll have to carry your weapons in jokers, so that they won't bother you when you don't need them or when you don't want them to be seen."

"You really intend on sending us to steal the Grand Museum, do you?"

Lass had done some research about the museum: it was an actually famous place, and a favorite for school visits ever since about five years ago. For the sake of their upcoming mission (which the Corporates had begun to mockingly call the "grand chase", due to the museum's name) he'd also looked up on the security of the place. Tight, but not outstanding. _Avoidable, _he had thought.

"It's been confirmed: there will be a nugget of Saturnite in the Expo. We need it, Lass."

Lass didn't argue with his master, since it was pointless. She would send them whatever his arguments, so he didn't bother. Instead, he decided to go and see if he could draw the daggers from the joker without saying the Commandment out loud. It was possible to issue Commandments or to create Spells without chanting the words in voice, but it required a focus capability that, in Arianne's words: "Some more obtuse specimens of our race do not possess." Finding it hard to accomplish the feat, Ryan had taken the commentary as a personal offense, and the one thing that kept him from attacking Arianne was his own judgment, which told him he had no chance.

The next two real days were spent in intense training on how to control the jokers (it was harder than it seemed at first) and in how to perform Commandments without voicing them. The Skills, as Arianne had stated from the very start, were up to the fighter to create.

"That is exactly why you will hardly find two similar skilled fighters", she'd said. "They may have similar fighting styles, but the way they use their energy in Skills is almost always unique. Increased strength, speed, the capacity of cutting through almost anything, all this can be achieved with Skills and a proper weapon."

The third day after they received the jokers came to its end, and the silver Moon met the Corporates and their master on the balcony of the Island, during one of the strangest moments of the twelve _zannoinen _apprentices' lives. They were standing in a circle, wearing the clothes they were to wear during serious fights: skin-tight black suits, with black metallic parts at the joints of the limbs and the feet. To the head, only a nose-and-mouth mask to keep their faces from being seen, which could be removed by a simple button press. The girls were specially bothered by the tightness of the suits, so Arianne provided the group with black capes and hoods, ordering firmly that, in a time of need, they shouldn't hesitate in removing the pieces and leaving them behind. All black, since they were acting at night time. Those who had long hair had them tied firmly in a way taught by Arianne made so that it would not come down so easily. The suits' metallic parts also had small round recesses, which Arianne identified as sockets for placing jokers or batteries. Everything was meant for one purpose: if, or when the time came to fight, they would worry about the fight only, and nothing else. Focus was key.

"It will be simple. I will send you to a place that is nearby, so that it won't be too easy if someone tries to track you. Mari and Victor, who claim to know their ways in Jacksonville, will guide you to the museum. In this meantime, you can still be seen, since you'll still be wearing the coats. After you arrive and start the action, you must avoid drawing attention at all costs. Retrieving the Saturnite is of top priority, and you must take any measures necessary to accomplish this, unless it puts any of you in a mortal danger. If we lose this, there can be other ways, but if you die, there's no turning back. Not that I think there will be such a thing as a mortal danger. You'll be facing simple humans, and that shouldn't be a problem for people like you and me. Since we intend on using the Saturnite to create a POV Link, you'll need this."

She lifted something that looked like a silver locket and explained:

"It's more than just a locket. Once it's open, it'll activate a delayed Spell whose purpose is to make the metal start maturing so that we can use it. Before you take it, open the locket and use the Spell on the Saturnite. After the Spell has been placed, none of you, I repeat, _none of you_ must touch the nugget with bare hands, otherwise it'll recognize the person's touch and the POV Link will work only for that person. If we want it to work with anyone, you must bring it here without touching it. Is that clear?"

"Yes, master!" they answered, altogether.

"Then go, and may the Creator watch over you so that you don't fuck things up too much."

That said, Arianne turned around and looked at the circle drawn on the floor, which the Corporates recognized as a gate. Raising her hand, Arianne executed the Spell, and just like before, the fabric of reality seemed to warp when the circle started glowing and the connection was established.

Lass eased his breath and, just like before, was the first to step through the hole.

FOUR

Jacksonville, July 4th, 2009.

Lass was the first to come out of the hole created by the Twin Gates' magic, but Mari was the last. Not because of fear or hesitation, but only because, after Lass got through, all others tried to follow him, and she decided it would be best to wait. When she came out, the hole behind her closed, and the night became dead quiet.

Looking around, Mari realized why Arianne hadn't placed the gate directly in front of the Grand Museum of Anthropology: what would anyone think if they saw a hole blasted in the air and twelve people wearing black capes and hoods climbing out of it? The place they were now was a dark alleyway, void of people and poor of light, since the only light that could be seen was the one that came from the street outside. Sieghart's voice was heard:

"Time to Rupture, don't you think?"

Mari silently broke her spiritual barrier, unleashing her inner self. The others did the same, except for Elesis, who probably deemed better to save her energy for later. The dark was no longer a problem: Mari could see and feel all around her. The group walked out of the alley, and Mari became uncomfortably conscious of her skin tight suit, and was feeling almost as if naked out on the street. Sieghart seemed to notice this.

"You seem uneasy", he said.

"I am uneasy."

"Anything you want?"

"A BK hamburger with coke and a milk-shake."

Sieghart laughed.

"Well, unfortunately I can't go to Burger King dressed like this. People would think I'm some kind of pervert."

"Would they be wrong?" Mari asked, sarcastically. "I mean, the owner of the only maid café in Florida…"

"My bar is _not_ a maid café", protested Sieghart. "Damn bureaucrats wouldn't let me pass the place as one. Why in fuck is it wrong to have a maid café in Florida, anyway?"

"Because that's downright sick?"

This time they both laughed (Mari's laugh was so rare that it actually sent a shiver down Sieghart's spine; he found the sound strangely attractive). Their laugh was interrupted by Victor.

"Hey, Mari, I don't actually know where we are", he said.

"It's okay, the museum is this way", Mari answered, as she started to lead the way.

She knew. Of course she knew. Mari was always curious, and her curiosity often led her to look into maps just to know new places without having to actually visit them. And, once she looked, it would always be there. Right at hand. For times like those, when she knew exactly where to go. The perfect memory could come in handy sometimes.

FIVE

The main gate of the Grand Museum of Anthropology was, obviously, closed.

The museum itself was a set of eight square buildings, each roughly the same size of a medium-sized gymnasium, and the Administration Block, a smaller version of the main blocks. The building dedicated to the Iron Age was the second farthest from the main entrance, and so as far was their target. The museum's grounds were even larger than the establishment itself. With many large trees and benches, it would probably look really beautiful under the sun, but now, under the moonlight, it was dark and full of shadows, which could host the most unbelievable things for those with enough imagination. There was a security cabin to the right of the main gate, but that was not where the Corporates were standing. They were looking at an extension of indifferent, green painted, three meters tall fence, somewhere around the properties' perimeter. Over the fence, there were movement sensors that, at the slightest touch on their lines, would send out an alarm to the security. The Corporates didn't want that to happen.

"Did I mention how you look incredibly attractive in that suit?" asked Jin, looking at Mari.

"You didn't", she answered, simply.

The Corporates had removed their coats and placed them somewhere hidden from the eyes of the pass-byers before deciding where they would get in from.

"Now I do. How about after this whole mess is over?"

"Jin, focus", interrupted Lire. "Keep your mind on the task."

Lass stepped forward. He looked at the fence. _About three and a half meters so that there's no chance of setting off the alarm_, he calculated. _Well, I've jumped farther during training sessions._ Strengthening his legs' muscles with energy, he bended his back. When he felt he was at maximum energy, he jumped. About five meters off the floor. Even with this immense height, he fell silently on the other side. Just like a ghost. _Or a demon._ That thought was crossing his mind way too frequently lately.

A second after he landed, a noise to his right told him someone had followed his lead. He looked and found Elesis standing up. She had landed almost as silently as himself, Lass noticed. She gave him a brief smile and rushed forward so that the others wouldn't land on top of her. Following her example, Lass walked into the woods in front, right on time to not be crushed by Jin's landing. _Master was right once again_, Lass thought seeing his teammates jump over the three-and-a-half meters as if they were three-and-a-half inches. _The security is nothing for people like us._

"Almost makes us think we're unstoppable, right?" asked Elesis, her voice almost inaudible.

"Wha… unstoppable?" asked Lass, confused.

"I mean, looking as how this thing is supposed to keep people from entering and we just… pass it by like this. Makes you think we're… different. Superior."

"I don't feel superior because of this. More like –" he searched for a word to describe it. "– abnormal", he finally said.

She laughed, still almost inaudibly, at the comment. An involuntary smile formed on Lass' mouth as well.

"What? Am I so funny I make jokes without even meaning to?"

"No, it's just that, you know, you're a demon and you're calling a human like me abnormal", she said, looking at the same time amused and guilty. "I shouldn't be laughing at this, I know you didn't choose to be… Well, sorry."

"It's fine, I'm okay with it by now", he said. It wasn't true. His condition as a demon still bothered him, but he just couldn't get offended or angry at her. Besides, he knew she meant no offense. "Although, as far as I know, humans don't get burned by the sun. We're not sure if you aren't abnormal like me."

She was now standing in front of him, still smiling. Even though they were inside a private property which they shouldn't be, committing an invasion crime and planning to steal something, Lass' subconscious still wondered how it would be like to kiss her smiling lips… his increased sensorial state made him the most conscious of her. The skin-tight suit didn't leave much for imagination concerning her body. Her smile emphasized her lips, which were somewhere between thick and thin, and had an intensely red color, matching her tied hair. Her bright green eyes were now shining with what looked like amusement.

"So you dare compare me to you, _demon_?" she asked. "Is that maybe because you don't want to be the only one?"

Lass, sensing she was taunting him (she did that all the time), decided to play along.

"I must say that being all alone is depressing", he said carefully.

Elesis was obviously going to answer but, before she could do that, Sieghart, who had stood behind the fence to make sure nobody saw them jumping, passed to the inside, and Ronan interrupted them.

"Hey, you guys can talk after we're not inside the highly secured private museum, okay? Preferentially, after we left without being noticed by the well-paid and dedicated, not to mention armed, security."

Lass didn't know whether to be relieved or angry. Relieved because at any time he could commit a lapse and give Elesis an idea of his feelings, and angry because Ronan had spoiled the moment, as misplaced as it may have been. _Focus, Lass_, he thought, _if you fuck things up here, God knows what will come next_.

SIX

Mineral Section, Grand Museum of Anthropology. Jacksonville, July 4th, 2009. 23:56.

The room, void of its visitors, was dark and rather silent. The security cameras that usually kept the vigilance of the entrances and exits were frozen in place, showing the same image over and over: stagnancy. Under the influence of a certain Commandment, the cameras were not doing their job. Also were not the motion sensors, the touch sensors or the proximity alarms. Everything was not functional. The Corporates made sure of that. Because of that lack of surveillance, no one noticed when the twelve figures wearing skin-tight black clothes walked into the mineral section, one of them carrying a silvery locket around her neck. No one noticed when the three uniformed men keeping guard on the front gate were brutally slaughtered by small dragon-like red animals, with large wings and voracious fangs. No one noticed when the front gate burst wide open and more than a hundred green, two meters tall, strong and uncommon creatures ran past the gate, carrying heavy weapons and killing every single man in their path. No one noticed when an immense red dragon appeared on the skies above the Grand Museum of Anthropology and, silent like a shadow, landed on the back of the museum grounds. The small dragons converged around their father. The Red Gorgos sensed his prey inside the building to his left and, talking with his mind, commanded the orcs towards the place. The Corporates' Commandments avoided their detection, and the security could do nothing but fall under the hammers of the orcs' soldiers. The clocks hit the top of their revolutions. Midnight.

A new day had begun.

SEVEN

The metal nugget was red. Lire didn't see anything special about it. Anything that could confirm or refute the fact that it was actually Saturnite. _What if this is just some iron junk?_

"There it is", said Sieghart. "So, who had the locket?"

"It's here", said Elena. She stepped onwards and pushed out the locket from around her neck. "Should I open it now?"

"Wait, let me just remove this…" said Lass, walking towards the nugget, which was under a small glass dome. It obviously had a touch sensor, but the security system was deactivated and, therefore, there was nothing to worry about. In fact, when the demon placed his hands on the glass and moved it around until he found a way to remove it; it came out peacefully, without triggering anything. Elena came to be straight in front of it.

"Well, here goes nothing", she muttered. Sticking her nail in the crack, Elena made pressure.

When the locket opened, Elena quickly pointed it towards the Saturnite. It released a flash of light and, for a moment, a Spell gate (circles that appeared when a Spell was used) shone under the pedestal which held the metal nugget. After it was gone, Lire noticed a change in its appearance: it was more vividly red and looking less like common iron. _Maybe master wasn't wrong after all. That woman is never wrong, anyway…_

Sieghart started to say something when Lass interrupted.

"We're not alone", he said, briefly.

They all started to turn, but didn't have to go too far. All around them, they were surrounded by roughly fifty medium sized orcs. A really big specimen, almost three meters tall, stood in front of them, carrying a hammer which's weight should be around the same as a massive wooden door. Maybe more. For their surprise, it laughed and said, with a rude and heavy accent, but still in understandable English:

"Good goin', demon boy. You have some nice ears there. Now step away from the metal and gimme those jokers".

**CHAPTER END**

**Author's Afterword: **_Still Alive_ is a nice song, even though when GLaDOS sings it, she sounds more like a sentry turret than her usual, dangerous self. But I'm quoting her anyway: _Believe me, I am still alive._

My humblest apologies for taking so long. If it is of any good, I put up two chapters this time. This Chapter Ten up there is one of my personal favorites. Now we're getting to the action part of this whole thing. Good? I'm not sure. I've never tried my skills with action scenes before. If I suck, I'll try to improve as quickly as I can. All for the sake of you, who reads this and makes all the hours I spend (spend, not waste) writing when I should be studying. I won't establish deadlines for myself (my boss is in charge of that) but I'll try my hardest to upload again before May 1st.

TheHellequin. We're done here.

**PS:** Reviews make authors happy.

**PPS:** Yay! 6000 words!


	11. The Chase Begins

**Chapter Eleven == The Chase begins**

ONE** - Disadvantage**

Mineral Section, Grand Museum of Anthropology. Jacksonville, July 5th, 2009. 00:06.

Elesis was never the kind of person to be frozen solid by fear or to give in when something unexpected occurred. Her personality, whose foundations were built on the unexpected and random, forced her to try and, immediately after a moderate to heavy shock, apprehend the new situation as soon as possible in its whole. Of course, she wasn't used to monster-like armed creatures around her, but her reason didn't give in. Her mind didn't go blank. On the contrary, when she noticed the surrounding orcs, she instinctively started to catalog the situation, and, thanks to her highly sensitive mind state, was able to determine in exact four seconds that the orcs were numbered in fifty-five, being that the only one who seemed to be of the larger variation was the one who talked to Lass demanding their jokers. The one who seemed to be in charge of the pack. _Who issues the orders? Me, of course, 'cause I'm the big one and, if you don't obey I'll step on all you bitches, _she thought, ironically. Leaving her thoughts on second plane, she looked at Lass, who had just been ordered (along with all of them) to step away from the Saturnite. _Fifty-five, girl, I think you'd better obey_.

Lass answered the orc in a hesitant voice.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked.

The orc laughed once again, but this time there seemed to be some humor within its rough voice.

"Hell, eh? Well, I guess ya' could call it that way", said the orc, lowering his hammer. "Though the All-World isn't all hell, ya' know?"

Elesis was startled by that phrase. _The All-World? How did they get here from there?_

"All-World… isn't that all the way across the Strings?" asked Lass, cautious. "Kinda too far to go for this chunk of rock", he indicated the Saturnite. "What did you come here for, if it isn't for this?"

"Well, she din't tell 'ya yet? Cunning woman, isn'it, that Knight Master?" asked the orc, still looking like he was hearing a joke only he understood. And all the time the other orcs stood still, blocking the Corporates from every side. Elesis wasn't paying attention to them, though. Her mind was occupied with something else. _Knight Master? What is that?_

"Who?" intruded Jin.

This time the orc laughed out loud to the glass and concrete dome above their heads, along with most of his companions. After his laughter stopped, he looked at them incredulously.

"Ya tryin' to tell me she did'n tell you who the hell she actually _is_?"

"Cut the crap!", exclaimed Lass. "What are you talking about?"

"Arianne Lothos, of damn course!"

They all froze still. Arianne wasn't even there. How did the orc know who she was?

"Time's up, kids", said the orc leader, raising his hammer once again. "Pass the jokers over and get on 'yer knees."

Lass didn't answer, but simply pulled off his daggers. Elesis, along with the other Corporates, did the same.

"We didn't finish negotiating yet", said the demon. "What do you want us _and_ the metal for?"

"The metal's only an excuse. What do we get, you're asking? We don' get friggin' killed, tha's what."

"By whom? Who sent you here? Why is it the second time we come face to face with you people?"

"You survived the first time out of mere luck!" spat the orc. "Got saved by the Knight Master, but now she ain't here to cover yer' asses. So what now yer' using some fine weapons and these fancy suits? It doesn' matter who sent us, not to you! Yer' all dead men now! DEAD!"

"Damn it, there's no reasoning with these guys", muttered Elesis, clutching her sword, the Undoing, firmly.

"Enough talk! GET'EM!" yelled the leader orc. Immediately the smaller ones started shouting and began running towards the small group around the Saturnite. Elesis expected her heart to start racing.

It didn't.

What came on her was a cold, indifferent curtain of what she could classify as the lack of any feeling. All that was left was the analysis of her mind's eye. And the will to kill. She noticed, remotely, how much she was ready to do it. In fact, when the first orc got close enough to her to raise his wooden club and smash her head, she didn't think of absolutely nothing while raising her hands and cutting off the creature's head. Bending her spine to avoid the slash of a blade that came from behind (Elesis wasn't exactly sure how she saw that coming) she turned around quickly and slashed her own sword, whose blade cut through not only the orc's armor, but also through the orc itself. It fell to the ground, with blood gushing from the open chest. Elesis remotely noticed Lass' voice shouting "Fight your ways out!" She noticed he was right: upon their leader's order to attack, the orcs had broken their formation, leaving the exits uncovered. If she fought in the right direction, she could escape. Looking up, she noticed one of the arcs that led to the other sections. _That way._ Her looking up took its price, though. She noticed an orc lowering an axe on her. There was no time to avoid. Before the blow landed, the orc was hit by a shining arrow and fell to the ground. Enjoying her enemies' moment of distraction, Elesis slashed off two more heads. The other orcs backed off from the reach of her sword. Elesis looked to where the arrow came from and saw Lire, standing on top of a column which had the words _Mineral Section_ on it and firing at anything on sight. The redhead turned around and started running towards the arc she'd seen before. The single orc who stood in her way was killed with a slash to the hip, cutting its lower half off completely.

After Elesis got through the arc, she kept running (and noticed, with a far away corner of her mind, she was running faster than she ever did before) along a corridor until she hit a bifurcation. Choosing randomly the right corridor, she started running through it. After some more bifurcations, she finally stopped to catch her breath. There was no one after her, fortunately. _I lost them._ Looking around, Elesis noticed she'd lost herself as well.

TWO – **The hand of the Murderer**

After shouting out to his friends to fight a way out instead of just standing in one place, Lass noticed he wasn't following his own advice, since he hadn't moved a single meter since the orcs started to attack. Remembering his training sessions, Lass focused the energy of his soul in the dagger in his right hand and unleashed it from the weapon, drawing a curve in the air. The wave of energy that came out of it cut the orcs in front of him with ease, disappearing after about three meters. Immediately Lass began to run towards the nearest exit, jumping over the orcs to save the time it would take to kill them. They tried running after him, but he erased some more with another energy wave from his daggers, making them think otherwise. _Now I know how to get rid of an angry mob_, he thought. _I just have to cut down some of them, and the others will stop._ For him to think something like that while fighting for his life was no big surprise, since he was used to fighting before enough to notice that his mind hardly kept a coherent track of thoughts during such times.

After escaping through a hallway, Lass noticed a clock on the wall. Not even one minute since he entered the fight with the orc horde. He remembered the first verse of an old song. _Welcome to where time stands still, no one leaves and no one will._ Appropriate, isn't it? Oh, yes, it is, very appropriate. He came to face a bifurcation, just like Elesis did before him, and, just like Elesis did before him, chose the right way. What made him do it? Nothing in particular, he'd have said, but there was something, telling him: _Go this way, you idiot, you know this is the right way, you know this is where you must be. Go this way, and now this way…_ Choosing what seemed to be random turns across the many hallways, Lass finally come to find her. Elesis was standing in front of him, looking at a sign on the wall. Her suit was stained with a lot of blood. There were some black things at her feet. A second look revealed it to be bodies. Human. _Guards, maybe?_ It didn't matter, because they were dead. The blood was spreading around them.

"Ellie?" he called out.

She turned to him, and Lass noticed the look on her face. Confused. Confused as hell.

"Are you alright?"

She didn't answer. Instead started to walk towards him. Lass stood frozen, seeing her walk in his direction, with her suit stained with blood, that "I don't know what's going on" look in her eyes and a sword in the right hand. He noticed he could smell the blood form where he was, and there were two different, distinguished smells. One was sour and unpleasant, and Lass thought it came from the orcs. The other, bitter yet sweet, unlike anything he'd found before. _Human blood_, he thought. Against his own will, he assumed a defensive position.

"Ellie, it's me", he said, in an appeasing tone. "It's Lass."

Her expression didn't change, as she simply walked to him. He saw her sword waver. She didn't attack him, though. The sword clashed to the ground and, to his utter surprise, Elesis Winchester fell on his arms. He saw the tears.

She was crying.

"Hey", he said, holding her as she started to cry harder. "What are you crying for?"

"I… I killed… kill someone."

_So that's what's going on. Killing for the first time. But not the orcs. Killing_ people _for the first time. Fellow humans. She was already unstable because of all that's been happening to her, and now this…_

"It was you, then? You killed those guys? The… men over there?" he asked.

"I did", she answered. "Alive and… just in a second…" she waved her hand, slashing an invisible sword. "Not anymore."

_Shit, what the fuck am I supposed do at a time like this? I have an insanely hot girl with a skin tight suit crying on my shoulder because, not only did she almost get killed by some things from the other side of Everything There Is, but she was forced to, right after, slay these random Jacksonville security guys, who happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time._ He found this so funny he had to hold his laughter. It wouldn't be easy to explain why he was laughing at her outburst. _How about this, football star of High School? I've just been put to a corner by the fucking Miss Court of Odin!_

"Listen, it was kill or get killed, right?"

"There was no need to kill, I just had to… put them out or… but I was surprised!" she said, loudly.

"Hey, you do know they're most certainly looking for us, right?"

She raised herself from his hold, looking a little recovered from her shock. And looking embarrassed.

"Oh, yes", she muttered, wiping her tears. "Sorry for… doing this."

"Nah, forget it", answered Lass. _I actually liked it, _he could've said.

After she picked up her sword from the floor, Lass said:

"So, should we find a way back to Mineral Section?"

"You really intend on going back into that room?"

"I need to know what happened to the others. Maybe we can help them."

Elesis agreed, and they started to remake their steps. Lass, worried, asked:

"We'll probably have to do more killing on the way."

Elesis smiled to him. The same smile she gave him on the outside, by the fence.

"I won't break again, so don't worry."

THREE – **Three on Fifty**

The fight in Mineral Section was not over yet. Sieghart, even after hearing Lass' advice to run for it, calculated that, if only they could wipe out the orcs, there would be time to take the Saturnite and leave the museum. He had searched those immediately around him (found only Mari) and now, after everyone else had escaped and Elesis and Lass were trying to find their ways back to the battle site, the two of them stood together between the orcs and the scarlet metal nugget, aided a few moments later by Lire, who came to help them by shooting arrows at the orcs around faster than any human would be capable of. Wave after wave of blood-thirsty green orcs descended upon them, but Sieghart, Mari and Lire could not be stopped. Lire, protected by the other two, was unreachable. Sieghart's blade, the Champion's Call, seemed to strike more than just wounds into the orcs around them; it stroke them with fear. On Mari's side, she had used one of the many incantations written in the grimoire to summon a set of four floating blades (Sieghart had seen her practicing with those before) and was now fighting with them, while trying to keep the enemies away from the pedestal behind her. It wasn't being easy but Sieghart thought, for a second, that they could actually win it.

"STOP!" yelled a voice, from the back of the hall.

All the orcs immediately ceased their attacks, falling back and making way for their leader, who was now laughing again. The immense orc walked towards the two Corporates, and said:

"That's some nice fightin' yer' putting up there", he grunted. "But it's useless. Ye can't kill us all. Yer' friends have left you. Lay down yer' arms, and we may not hurt you too much."

"That's some pretty shit to say, after more than half your soldiers have been killed by twelve humans", said Sieghart. "Did you give up on fighting and decided to try for small talk instead?"

The orc smiled sarcastiacally. Sieghart simply waited for its answer, so that he could take his breath.

"Twelve _humans?_" asked the orc leader. "Hell, the thing yer' team lacks the most is humans!"

Sieghart felt his stomach fall down.

"What do you mean?" asked Lire.

"Ye don' know? The Knight Master din' tell ya'? Really, did she tell ya' _anything at all?_"

"Cut the crap, ass face, and answer her!" demanded Mari, screaming at that point.

The orc leader indicated Lire.

"What do you see there?" he asked, bitterly.

Mari remained quiet, and Sieghart saw the orc's point: Lire wasn't human; she was an elf. But that didn't mean he'd just take it.

"It doesn't matter if Lire is human or elf, she—" Sieghart started, without having a chance to finish, though. He was interrupted by the loudest laughter attack the orc had gotten so far. It lasted a whole minute before he was controlled enough to talk again. Still between laughs, he asked:

"Elf? Ya' mean… Yer' tryin' to tell me… she actually told'ya…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lire, in a weak voice.

The orc leader pointed at her, his glove covered fingers making a metal-against-metal noise. The words came out of his mouth in that heavy accent, with all the weight of their inescapable Fate.

"You are no elf, little girl. Never were, never will be. Y'are more, much more than that. Why else would'ya think Lady Kaze'Aze would send us all the way out'ere just for you?"

FOUR – **Intervention**

Elena's sight, enhanced by the Ruptured state, was clear, and her ears, also more sensitive than usual, heard every word the Big Fella (how she started to think of the orc leader) said. When he got to say that Lire was the reason they were being targeted ever since the New Year's party, Elena's mind went AWOL. Because she recognized one name the Big Fella had mentioned.

Kaze'Aze.

_Where did I hear this name? Actually, how do I know it's a name?_

The second one was easier. She knew it was a name because the Big Fella had said _Lady_ Kaze'Aze. Lady. The meant Kaze'Aze was someone important, a Really Big Fella, let's call it this way. And where did Elena hear the Really Big's name? Well, that one was harder. She wasn't even sure the name'd been _heard_; she could've read it somewhere. Fuck, it could be only a stupid _déjà vu_.

_No, Elena. Focus. Lire is not what you think she is. And not only that, he also said the thing our team lacks the most is humans. That means…_

(_…demons, elves…)_

There was more. Lire wasn't human, neither was Ryan, apparently an elf. Lass was a demon. Elesis was… well, she was something else. Something unknown. But there was more. That is, if the orc's words could be taken into account. More… who could it be? Maybe Jin, whose stamina Elena always judged almost inhuman? Or Mari, with her perfect memorization? Or, maybe…

_Me._

Elena shook her head. There was no use in thinking over that right now. What if she wasn't human? She'd deal with it. Right now, it was time to do the job. And the job was death.

"Holy Flame Altar, thy light shine upon me…" she started chanting, pulling out her rod along with the energy of her soul. When the incantation was complete, she pointed the rod towards the orcs, and her soul burned as intensely as the fireball of the Meteor Strike spell, who hurled to the green crowd. When they noticed the noise, it was too late: The meteor hit one of them and exploded fiercely breaking the polished ground beneath it and sending many things flying across the hall, including about five orcs. Those of them who were immediately close to the explosion didn't simply get pushed, but literally caught flame like torches.

Their screams of pain seemed to echo all the way back to Meridiana.

FIVE – **The Touch**

When the noise of the explosion overpowered all other noises in the Mineral Section (which was already turning into Crumble Section), Mari, Sieghart and Lire immediately noticed there would be no more talking. The leader of the orcs raised his hammer and screamed:

"Go! Find'em and bring'em back 'ere! Don't kill the ten, but bring me the head of that lil' witch FUCKER!" he indicated six orcs who were close to himself and ordered: "You, with me! We'll end these assholes right'ere!"

Mari waved her hand over the grimoire, which opened on a page with a familiar incantation written on it. Mari started chanting the spell and using her energy to create a sphere of blue light in her right hand. Some of the metal scraps scattered around the room gathered at the sphere (the Saturnite was, apparently, immune to that effect, since it didn't even shake) and after a second, the set of four knives were formed and started floating behind her. The knives were called Wing Drive Weapons, and Mari had taken a liking to them immediately after using them for the first time, in training. The way she could control them without having to properly think about it, almost instinctive, was very useful during the raging seconds of battle, and they could be made out of almost anything. The WDW had only one screaming weakness: they would disappear after a short while, if not maintained with a stable stream of energy.

There were other useful weapons hidden in the pages of the grimoire. Mari had found out that, if a certain page of it was opened without a proper canceling commandment, it would send out a burst of energy that would push anything immediately in front of the book flying (at the time, she was in the beach of The Island, and fortunately landed in the water, which didn't hurt so bad). According to Arianne, it was a simple Buster spell, but she didn't seem to know how it was placed in a book permanently. Also, there were a set of many high level incantations there, used to summon even more powerful weapons than the WDW. But, for now, the WDW would have to cut it.

This time, the fight was even more violent. The orcs, with their morale heightened by the presence of their leader, were even more savage than before. Mari blocked their incoming attacks with the grimoire (hard as any sword, you may say) and countered, when possible, with one of the WDW blades, when those were not busy protecting from other incoming attacks. After ten seconds of fight, she hadn't killed a single one. _Am I getting tired, or are these guys just a little bit stronger?_ Of course, there was no time to ask that to anyone. Lire was busy, defending herself with an unbelievable flexibility, and Sieghart got separated from them and was, now, fighting three orcs and the leader, who seemed to be surprisingly fast, considering his size. Mari felt her blood burning in her veins when one of the enemies landed a sword slash right across Sieghart's face, making an ugly-looking, even from afar, cut.

"Damn!" she exclaimed, doubling her efforts towards the surrounding enemies. Getting an opening after blocking the club of one orc, she waved her left hand across the creature's chest. One of the WDW blades followed her movement, and the orc fell, separated in two by the cut. His blood stained Mari's suit. She felt the smell of the crimson liquid, which was almost unbearably sour. That smell seemed to make her mind even clearer, and she remembered something that could be useful. Commanding the grimoire to open, she found the right page and the book left her hands, opening towards two orcs in front of her.

"Take this! BUSTER!" she Commanded.

The words written on the surface of the grimoire's pages glittered for a moment. Next, there was a blasting sound and a flash of blue light. Mari felt the recoil of the book when the Buster launched the two orcs flying across the Mineral Section. One of them landed on a glass table and fell unconscious. The other one wasn't so lucky: immediately after being launched, his helmet-covered head hit a column, at full speed. The column broke when the orc got through the solid stone, making a loud crushing sound. When the creature finally landed, his head was smashed, helmet and all, into a bloody mass.

There were still three orcs surrounding her. After that deliberate demonstration of magic, though, they seemed hesitant in engaging her. She allowed herself to grin.

"Where's your bravery now, tough guys?" she taunted. The orcs screamed in anger and charged, raising their weapons in a way that would scare off any UFC champion. Mari didn't even blink. At the exact second the three weapons – a hammer and two wooden clubs – were raised, she dashed forward and drew an arc with her right hand, about as high as their diaphragm. The four WDW blades drew the same move and, all at once, an identical expression of shock crossed the orcs' faces, before their upper halves fell to the ground, followed by the bodiless legs.

_And that wraps up negotiations_, Mari thought, looking at the slaughterhouse they had turned the Mineral Section into. There was blood almost everywhere, including the walls and the glass dome above. She turned to see Lire's progress, just in time to see the girl felling one last orc, with an arrow right into the forehead. After it hit the ground, Lire turned to her and said, surprised:

"You're over already?"

"Well, I figured you'd need my help", retorted Mari.

"I DO NEED YOUR HELP!" came Sieghart's voice from across the Section. Mari looked and noticed he managed to fell one of the orcs he was fighting with but, in exchange, seemed to have earned a respectable collection of small and medium cuts and bruises (most of them inflicted by the leader, Mari was almost certain).

Mari was starting to run towards her friend when, with a glittering sound, the glass dome over her head shattered. She heard a high scream and looked up just in time to see Elena, falling from the broken dome. Mari looked to the place she would fall, and her heart stopped. Lire seemed to notice too, since she screamed "NO!" and tried to reach out, but it was too late. Elena Kingreaver fell through the air of the Mineral Section with the speed of an arrow.

Straight on top of the Saturnite nugget.

SIX - **Red**

Two years ago, Mari had visited a Chinese-decorated apartment in Manhattan. There were many things she remembered about the island, but the most relevant memory for her was that single apartment. She had gone there with Elesis, Sieghart and the latter's girlfriend at the time. Before that visit, Mari always judged the red color annoying and Elesis, with her blood-red hair, considered that a personal matter. At that time, after Sigahart (always irresponsible) left with his girlfriend leaving the two sixteen-years-old girls alone in the Big Apple, Elesis had said:

"Come with me to Chinatown. I'll show you just how elegant red can be!"

After seeing her friend start running down the Second Avenue, Mari had no choice but to follow. When they got to Chinatown, Mari noticed the incredible amount of red objects surrounding her. Red walls, red lanterns, red windows. And that apartment. The walls were red, intensely red. The furniture was made of white wood, with red details. There was red everywhere. And yet… all that red wasn't plain or annoying. It was just… intensely sumptuous. Mari came in contact, that day, with questioning her own beliefs. She believed red was annoying, yet wasn't she in a room full of red, and wasn't she finding it beautiful? Wondrous? And weren't the red walls around her, two years after Manhattan, also beautiful? Wasn't the red floor wondrous? They were.

But the red on the floor wasn't painted wood. It was blood, blood from the slaughtered orcs, whose bodies lay motionless on the Mineral Section's floor. The red on the walls wasn't wallpaper, but reflexes. Reflexes of the intensely red light that came out of the Saturnite in the exact moment Elena's body touched it. The blinding red light exploded from within the metal, coloring the walls with the same red the blood-stained floor had acquired. Lire reached Elena, and Mari went for the precious nugget. Not too far, though, since she couldn't even look straight at it, so bright was the red light triggered by Elena's touch. Mari knew what that meant. It _was_ too late. The Saturnite was imprinted. Compromised. Now, only Elena would be able to use it.

_She fell from the roof…_

But she can't fly, can she? _No, Mari she can't._ _Something dropped her. Now why don't you look up, but this time with your eyes, not with your dropped jaw?_ Mari looked up to see something that made her heart skip another beat.

The sky above the museum was lit by a sphere of fire, apparently the same size of the just broken glass dome of Mineral Section and, beneath the fireball, swarmed dragonish red (wasn't her day full of red? It was a red day, a day of battle, after all, or rather, a _night_ of battle) creatures. They were flying with insect-like wings, beating fast and noisily. Their skin reflected the light of the fire like an armor – it was an armor, Mari would find out – and their eyes were pitch-black. All of them. Black like the emptiness beyond the Strings.

"LIRE, WATCH OUT!" shouted Mari. Her worries were well explained: if the orc leader was telling the truth, it was Lire they were after.

Lire looked up to the dragons, right in time to jump back and avoid the swooping flight of one of them. Mari noticed the front members of the creatures were a single, deadly claw, red like the rest of their bodies. More attacked, and the blazing sun of flames shining above her head was covered by their shadows. _There must be at least a hundred of these. Maybe more._ Mari was beginning to lose hope.

A scream crossed the hall, and Mari looked to see Sieghart getting hit twice by the orc leader's hammer before being capable of avoiding the next hit. Mari cursed their bad luck. _If the rest of us were still here, we could stand a chance!_ Mari thought specially of Arme, which was one of the most powerful amongst them. After a large group – something around thirty—of dragons attacked Lire and Mari, the blue-haired girl did something she would never even think in the last year. With her mind, instead of her throat, she screamed:

"HELP ME! _NOW!"_

SEVEN – **Telepathy**

If Mari had weighted the pros and cons of her scream, she would possibly never do it. Of course Arme heard. The others as well. Including her enemies.

Arme was walking with Ryan and Victor. They were trying the same thing as Elesis and Lass (something in which they would be successful, unlike the other two): find a way back to Mineral Section. They knew there was still someone fighting there, because of the noises that came from the walls around them: first, there was an explosion, probably caused by a spell; after that, a terrible stone against stone noise, that Arme evaluated as a piece of the building's structure coming down. At last, there was a sound of glass breaking, and it was at that time the three discovered they were close to their target. When they were running towards the place they imagined the sound came from (already seeing the indications of Mineral Section on the walls), a loud scream pierced Arme's thoughts like a thorn. But it wasn't her own voice, no sir, the voice screaming inside her head was Mari's voice. And she was screaming for help.

Arme immediately stopped running. Victor and Ryan did the same. Instead of asking why was she stopping, Victor asked:

"Did you hear it too?"

"I did!" exclaimed Ryan. "A voice in my head…"

"I did too", said Arme. "It was Mari, wasn't it?"

"I'm quite sure it was", considered Victor. "And I also think she is in the Mineral Section, fighting."

"Alone?" asked Arme, terrified. _Maybe these telepathic messages have a delay or something, _she thought. If that was the case, then her friend could be already dead.

"Let's hope not", said Victor, as he resumed running. Arme and Ryan followed him shortly after. Turn left, turn right, and then they saw it.

Outside, there was a sphere of fire on the sky, lighting the whole place with a blazing light. Right under it, there was an enormous red dragon. Around him, swirled countless smaller ones, but he was the only large one. He turned his gaze to the window they were looking through, and Arme noticed he _was _looking at them. Surprisingly, a deep and strong voice spoke in her head, like Mari's had done before. This time, though, she knew where it came from.

"There you are, Grand Chase", said the dragon.

EXTRA – **Mari's Troubled Technician's Life**

The first call in the morning was answered without enthusiasm by the blue-haired technician.

"Middle-End stores, good morning."

"Hey", answered a man's voice. "I bought a printer at the store, but the install disk doesn't seem to be working."

After asking all the usual questions about model and everything, Mari got to trying to solve the issue itself.

"Are you sure you're checking the 'accept license terms' box in the third screen of the install program?"

"But the install program just doesn't appear", answered the man.

"Does _anything at all_ appear when you insert the disc into the computer?" asked Mari, already fearing a refund.

"Oh, I'm supposed to put the disk in the computer? I could swear it was meant to be used in the printer itself."

Luckily for Mari's equipment's integrity, the call didn't last very long.

-X-

Bored, Mari tried to remember what was the eight letters word for "First of the Joestar Bloodline". That was probably the sixth crosswords puzzle she was finishing just out of nothing to do, which made her the best between the three technicians currently doing the same activity. She started writing the answer _Jonathan_ when someone stopped besides her and cleaned their throat. She looked up at her manager, that stupid bowtie of his making him look even uglier. He was obviously nervous from talking to her: all the other workers warned her that the guy was head over heels for her. _One-sided_ _for as long as you live, mate_, she thought. That was likely the reason he decided to bother her instead of anyone else.

"Brautigan", he said. "Who gave you permission to ditch work and do crosswords?"

"I'm not getting any demands right now, sir", she answered, simply.

"Do you know what we call around here employees who slack off from duty?" he asked, trying to sound authoritarian.

"I can guess", taunted Mari. "How many letters does it have?"

Any other boss would've given her a formal warning on this kind of joke. But being that her boss was a joke himself Mari got off the hook without even having to use her plan B.

-X-

"Middle-End stores, good afternoon", greeted Mari. Her mood got a little better since she'd just had lunch.

"I'm calling about my corporative e-mail program which you installed in our new internal server…"

Mari remembered the case. One of the few in which the client actually knew what they were talking about. It only took some minutes to make the final adjustments.

"And here we go", concluded Mari, reflecting on how satisfactory it was to speak with someone other than the people who called her 'tech junkie'. "I created the new password for the master account. You may want to write this down, secure passwords are… well, hard to remember."

"Just send it to me", said the client.

"In which address?"

"It can be the master corporative account you just made."

Mari quickly performed the task.

"Done."

"Well, thank you. I'll be in touch."

"Thanks for hiring us", said Mari, before hanging up.

_This was easy_, she thought. _Now, those crosswords aren't so…_

Pause.

"Oh, wait."

-X-

"I'm telling you, placebo is bullshit. You have to give someone something, _anything_, if you want results", said Roger, the actual hard drive expert of the house. Mari was about to argue when the phone rang. She noticed the number of the caller in her screen and grinned playfully.

"So you don't believe in placebo?" she asked. "One milk-shake I can make you change your mind."

"Oh, yeah? You're on. Now convince me."

Mari placed the call in the loudspeaker.

"Middle-End stores, good afternoon", she greeted. A woman answered.

"Good afternoon. I'm having problems with my computer, it's becoming increasingly slow lately…"

"Fine, just follow my instructions to the letter", said Mari, blinking one eye at Roger besides her. He waved her to continue. "Open the notepad and type the words 'software upgrade v20'."

"Now what?"

"Save it to your desktop and then delete it", instructed Mari. Roger suppressed a laugh besides her. After the woman said she'd done so Mari gave the last instruction. "Now restart you computer."

She waited while Roger gave her a constant mouthing of "this'll never work".

"How is it now?" asked Mari after she heard the woman's PC turning on again.

"It's great! Jet-speed! Thank you", answered the woman, ecstatic.

"You were welcome", answered Mari, hanging up. She turned to Roger. "So, what were we talking about again?"

"So, do you like caramel or chocolate milk-shakes?"

CHAPTER _FIN_

**Afterword: **So, this chapter isn't nearly as big as the next one. I'm not done with it yet and it's already larger than this. This one has little more than 6000 words, but it alone would be enough to grant me beta status. Chapter Twelve will most likely exceed 10,000 words. I think that's good. Means I have a lot to tell. But my time isn't all that much, as always, and now it's greatly diminished by the simultaneous acquisition of *intake of breath* Soul Calibur V, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, RE Operation Raccoon City, Silent Hill Downpour _and_ Diablo III. So, yeah, I'm busy.

I started making plans for the future of this thing. I won't lie, I will probably not get even halfway there, but if I do I'll die happy, because I'm planning BIG. Really, like more than one full fiction big. It'll take time. And willpower. And do you know what helps willpower? Recognition. And help from everyone who can help as to not let me make too many mistakes. I don't have a beta (though I am considering volunteering for it) so find that review button and press it. This page with 9 (so far) comments will appear and a button for you to add your own. See any errors? It's here. Found some really twisted shit? It's here. Got offended? It's fucking here. It won't cost you more than some minutes to formulate and write down your words (now if you don't have some minutes to spare, you may want to consider start writing down your agenda).

Bear with my pace, I beg you. With slow and steady steps one can climb the Mount Everest (but he may need some equipment if he also wants to go for K2).

Added another extra chapter, because it's really fun to write those.

TheHellequin is logging out to do his work now. See ya.


	12. The Other Demon

**Chapter Twelve == The Other Demon**

ONE – **To the palm of Fate**

The hallways finally came to an end. When Elesis breathed the cold air of the night, she didn't even notice. The first thing that took over her was anger: they had gone the wrong way. Instead of returning to Mineral Section, they had left the building. Lass stomped the floor, furious (his stomp, Elesis noticed, had left some cracks on the concrete floor).

"God-fucking-damn it!" he cursed. "We left! How in the world did we _leave?_"

"Calm down", said Elesis, trying to do the same. She knew it was harder to think blinded by anger. "We took a wrong way somewhere, so we only have to go back in and—"

"Back in?" interrupted Lass. "There will be no 'back in' now. We have to move and—"

He stopped taking because he had looked up. Elesis looked at where he was staring and her eyes stopped as well. There was a new sun shining on Jacksonville's sky.

"What is that?" she asked, not expecting an answer, though.

"Most certainly a spell, and a big one", Lass said.

"Big one, my foot. That thing is huge. What's happening here? How did they know we would be here? Who summoned that thing?"

"Okay, asking questions is good to get them out of your head, but it doesn't mean you'll get answers. I also have a shit lot of them, but I think we should…"

Lass' talk was interrupted by a voice. It didn't speak with sound, but inside their heads, and it was Mari's voice. She was screaming, and the message was clear.

"Did you hear that?" asked Lass.

"Mari is in danger", said Elesis simply. Hearing her best friend's scream for help had placed an iron ring around her heart. She threw the 'remain calm' idea straight through the window. "We have to go!"

Lass immediately tried to argue.

"Ellie, we don't even know where to start…" he began, but Elesis didn't listen. She was already running along the wall to go around the building.

"Oh, fuck that shit…" muttered Lass, and started running after her. It was easy to catch up; Elesis was getting tired.

It didn't take long for Elesis to notice there were orcs all over the perimeter of the museum. One of them got in their way and started what seemed like a scream for help, but Lass ran past her at an incredible speed and hit the orc with a dropkick. The energy in the blow was strong enough to shoot the orc ten meters across the air. After it landed Elesis and Lass simply continued running. Stop to kill the orc would be a waste of their already narrow time.

It all changed when they turned around the corner of the building.

A red, roughly thirteen meters long, four to five meters tall, shining and imperious dragon was standing on top of a fountain, in the middle of the plaza in front of the building's front entrance. Under the flaming sun, it looked like something coming from the depths of hellfire. Its front legs were a pair of claws, apparently as sharp as any sword they were carrying. When her mind radius reached the dragon, Elesis lost her breath. She'd never sensed so much energy in a single living being. It was almost like an aura around it. And when it turned its head towards her and Lass, she saw not the emptiness or savagery she expected in its black eyes. She saw thought. She saw wisdom.

The dragon was, apparently, rational. This was proved when a voice of fire, deep and forceful, spoke in her head:

"Welcome, you who are chosen, to the shadow of Fate's hand. I am the Red Gorgos, servant of Lady Kaze'aze and harbinger of ill destiny" it said.

Around the Red Gorgos there were about two or three hundred smaller dragons, apparently not nearly as strong as the large one. He waved his head towards these smaller dragons and spoke again, not with voice, but with thought.

"You have no chances. The Ram may be defeated, but, even though Fate determines the Grand Chase to be stronger than all, you are not yet fulfilled. I may not be the worthy opponent of the chosen ones, but that doesn't matter. It won't be me or my minions to bring down the lost Angel or her servant. _He_ is coming. He will be the harbinger of _your_ fate."

Elesis and Lass looked at each other. He said:

"Did he just call me your servant?"

"Did he just call me Angel?" she shot back at him.

"I think so."

"But there is a way", said the Red Gorgos. "Give her to us. Give us the First Born. Do that and your Fate will be denied. You are not tied to her, neither is your Fate to you. Only hers is inescapable. It shall bring death upon all those who follow her."

"Wait, time out!" said Lass, loudly. "Give you _what _exactly_?_"

"You play fool with me?" asked the Gorgos' voice, now sounding somewhat upset. "Give us the First Born. Give us Nairi!"

"Na-what? Is that a name?" asked Elesis.

"We don't know this person. And what are you saying with First Born? I thought they were all gone", continued Lass.

This time, the voice who spoke was carried by sound. It apparently came out of nowhere, but it was still a sound, sensed by ear, not mind.

"They don't know, Gorgos. They know nothing. And must they die in ignorance? For that is the worst of all deaths, and rightful to those who stand in The Lady's way", said the voice. From the shadows of the trees around the plaza, came out the figure of a man. To their surprise, the Red Gorgos came down from the fountain with a jump and bowed its enormous head to the man. To surprise Elesis and Lass even further, they sensed in the man even more energy than the dragon had. Elesis felt something bloom in her mind, making it cold and painful.

Fear.

"My Lord", said the Gorgos, still bowed down.

"But you, who are not from here, would do wrong in dying in this pitiful world", said the man, directing his words at the two Corporates. "The hand of Fate moves, and now the Cores are awakening again. When the core inside this place is ours, we'll come to you. You shall awaken the other core. And die. There is nothing more to be done."

Elesis and Lass were motionless. Both of them were thinking the same thing. If that man wanted, he could kill them right where they stood, having so much power and a giant dragon at his command. _What is he going to do?_, they wondered. None of them was expecting an answer, but it came.

"Face the true power, Grand Chase", said the man, and, in a second, he was in front of them, both hands raised, palms turned to them. When he hit them, Elesis calculated she'd never been hit with so much strength before. It made Arianne's training sessions look tame. She was pushed into the air like a leaf and, when she landed, the man was already on top of her. He punched her straight in the chest, making the little air she still had escape from her lungs, along with some blood. The ground under her body cracked. Lass tried to get up, but the man turned and hit him with his foot, making him drop again.

The man raised his hand above the head, and Elesis noticed he was preparing a spell. The energy was concentrating above him.

"Now go, and meet your destiny! _OPEN!_" this last word was shouted as a Commandment. The energy of the spell exploded from within, and what they saw was a gate, like the one opened over Meridiana Park more than half a year ago. Now Elesis recognized the gate for what it was: a dimensional rift, forcefully opened across realities, a wound in the Fabric of Truth, the skin of existence, opened to the darkness beyond the boundaries of the Old World. Where to? _Well, there's only one way to find out, _she thought. And that's exactly what happened.

Moving at that same unexplainable speed, the mysterious man grabbed Lass by the neck and threw him into the gate. Elesis stood frozen and, when the man turned to her, she didn't even try to react. He didn't grab her, though. Instead, he placed his right hand on her left breast, right on the heart, and said:

"Kûiki: Aetrephai Isinnesaya!" Elesis only had time to see it was a spell before she felt as if the man had placed a round, incandescent piece of iron in her chest. At the same time her head (in fact, her entire body) broke in a pain as such she'd never felt before. She screamed to the dark sky, but it was for nothing. The man's hand was still there, and the pain started to focus on her heart, leaving the rest of her body completely numb. The pain grew to the point she thought her heart – beating, she would think later, at more than two hundred beats per minute – would simply stop, and she would die in that place, that museum on that city of the United States of…

And it stopped.

But not completely. The numbness was still there and, without feeling her legs, she fell to her knees. She still felt a surge of pain in every heart beat.

"What did you do to me?" she asked. The weakness of her voice was surprising even to herself.

"The gears are in motion now", said the man. "From my hands to the palm of Fate. This is where it all begins, Angel. And if it goes as I plan, this is also the moment that will define your painful death."

This time he did grab her neck and his grip was an iron ring, like the one placed around her heart by the voice of Mari's desperation.

"From my hands to the palm of Fate", he repeated, before throwing her in the rift.

The last thing Elesis remembered was thinking why had the man called her angel. And then there was darkness.

And the drums.

TWO - **Immeasurable**

Once upon a time, there was a high school student called Lass Stronghold. He wasn't exactly normal. He had two people that were closest to him: Ronan Erudon, his brother from another mother, and Lire Versignassi, a beautiful girl who loved most of what came from Japan, specially food and mangas. They had a Physics teacher (who was in fact a Soul Crafter, though they didn't know that at the time) called Arianne Lothos. In these relatively normal and, in some ways, happy days, they once had a Physics class where their teacher mentioned an infinite result. Some funny student asked her how much exactly was infinite.

"Infinite is the immeasurable. It is something so great that it can't be conceived", she'd answered.

"Immeasurable?" asked the student.

"Exactly. It is a hard idea, in fact, the immeasurable. Can anyone here even think of anything immeasurable? Something that escapes our capability to count, to conceive, to think?"

"The universe!" someone said immediately.

Arianne laughed.

"Of course, that would be the first guess. But no. We have –" she used the pen to make a very small dot on the white board. "— the Earth. Twelve thousand kilometers of diameter. Big."

She drew a slightly larger dot.

"We have the sun. As large as some millions of Earths, these drawings are off-scale. Big." She drew a circle around the two dots. Still very small. "We have Pluto's orbit. One billion and some more kilometers of radius. Big." A fairly large circle. "The black hole at the center of our galaxy, whose gravity holds us all together, and its Event Horizon. As big as some millions of Suns, and probably as heavy as millions of millions of millions of Suns, but it doesn't matter. Big. And heavy, of course."

She stopped.

"If I were to draw our galaxy here, even off-scale, it would not fit. It's big. It's part of something called the Local Group, which is part of some other thing that's even bigger, the Virgo Supercluster. Yes, the universe is huge. But, everyone here probably knows this, it's in expansion. It's growing. Tell me, if it's already immeasurable, then it already is complete, and has nowhere to grow into. The universe, from this sight, has a limit. A boundary, if you please. It's big. But it is _not_ immeasurable."

The class was quiet. Arianne always did that. Kept their attentions. Their focus.

"Another guess?" she asked.

"The number of _particles _in this huge universe?" asked Lire.

"That's even better!" said Arianne, excitedly. She turned her back and drew a number one in the board, followed by zeros. Many zeros. As she drew the zeros, she resumed talking to the class.

"Everything is made of particles. From the clothes you are wearing, to the trillions of bacteria inside your bodies, and the sun in that sky out there and the stars that are larger than your imagination can picture. And particles are a motherfuckerly small thingy. Even so, an atom of hydrogen has its number of particles. So does bacteria and the stars." All the time, she was drawing zeros. There were already three lines of them. And she continued. "And since the universe is limited, so is the number of things inside it. So after a lot of counting and recounting, some very smart and unoccupied people came to the conclusion that the number of particles in the universe was not only measurable, but possible to represent in this rather small white board."

With a theatrical gesture, she drew one last zero on the board.

"They came up with this number. Ten to the eightieth potency. One followed by eighty zeros. This, my maybe-to-be friends, is the number of particles in the universe. No matter how motherfuckerly large is the number of galaxies in the universe, with a motherfuckerly large number of stars, planets, atoms and particles. It all comes down to this one. Big. But not immeasurable."

Once again, the class was completely silent. Focused.

"You are approaching it the wrong way, my dear students. Most of the time, the answer to an apparently unreasonable problem is clear if it's approached differently. Immeasurable isn't something too big to imagine. It's something you can't even picture in its own greatness or simplicity. Like a feeling."

She walked over to two students who were sitting side by side. They were a known couple in the school. Arianne indicated the two of them.

"Do you think these two love each other?" she asked, addressing to the class. Lass didn't believe too much in love at the time, but had to agree those two were a good match. And he'd also love to have a girlfriend with breasts as big as the girl's. Luck was a bitch alright. He said yes, as well as the rest of the class.

"And how much is that?"

No one even tried to answer.

"Well, I'm sure the best some of you could tell me would be 'a lot'. You wouldn't give me a number or tell me exactly the amount of feelings they have for each other" Arianne turned to the couple in question. "I doubt even you could tell me that."

The two of them nodded firmly. No.

"This is immeasurable. The feelings a man and a woman who are in love have for each other is immeasurable. Not only because it's big, but because it's too big to even think about."

When Lass Stronghold, the demon, got thrown through a dimensional rift one and a half years later, he finally came in contact with the infinite that holds reality.

That was the first time he came in contact with the immeasurable.

When Lass crossed the rift, it didn't hurt. He actually only felt a strange pull in his head. Then, he was thrown into something else. There was no light at first. No air. Nothing. Just the blackness around him. Then, something changed. At first he felt it like the wind. Something was going by him. Then, a light appeared, far away, only a shard. He heard voices, carried by the wind. He didn't understand the words (if they were words) they said, but he noticed it was a song. Beautiful. Enticing.

The light was moving towards him, and the wind grew stronger. He was starting to get pushed by it. Only when the wind got strong enough to move him out of his floating stillness, he noticed the familiar vibration in his bones. Energy. He tried to see it with his mind, and gasped at the result: It was around him, everywhere. Moving. So much energy that he felt it _physically_, like the wind. And when the light got past him and lit all around him he noticed where he was.

He was inside one of the Strings.

But could it be? _Master said the Strings could not be touched, only felt…_ but he wasn't touching the String, he was feeling it, with both his body and mind. All his thoughts were tossed like leaves at the wind, though, when the true energy of the String reached up to him. That was the immeasurable, the true infinite. Lass wondered how could so much energy exist. He thought the dragon had a lot of energy. He thought the man had a lot of energy. But they were nothing, less than nothing, compared to that river, that flow, that _Flux_ of energy that was all around him, carrying him, and there was light and darkness everywhere and he felt himself moving farther and farther away from the Old World where he was before, and faster and faster, until he could no longer exist, he was part of the energy stream, part of the immeasurable…

With a painful hit and the sound of that song still in his ears, Lass Stronghold crossed the barrier of reality for the first time and landed on another world. On his right shoulder.

THREE – **The dead World**

The first thing that happened after his painful landing was Lass noticing how that place smelled terribly. The second was a strong wind hitting him from behind and Elesis falling on top of him. He went straight to the floor again. This time, with his face.

"Ouch…" he grunted against the floor, feeling the salty blood in his mouth for a second, before the cut was closed.

"Lass?" asked Elesis. He felt her moving on top of him. But not getting up. Not that it bothered him too much. She was amazingly light.

"That was me, last time I checked. Now could you…"

"Ah, sorry!" she said. Her weight left his back, and he got up.

"I was going to ask you to sit somewhere else, since I couldn't breathe, but this'll do too", he said.

"Where are we?" she asked, ignoring him.

Lass looked around. If he had to guess, he'd say they were somewhere in New York, in some shadowy alley between two really tall buildings. Except the stone of the buildings and the concrete floor were dark grey, and the visible sky was grey as well. There was no sound. No one, anywhere. Lass saw a trash can turned over, a bottle of cheap wine and a piece of paper lying around. Nothing else. The very air appeared to be still. All around him gave away one feeling: abandoned. The last living thing that passed through that alley had probably done so a long time ago. The place was completely and utterly dead.

"In another world, I think", Lass finally answered. "Except that… I've never been to other worlds, but was supposed to be so…"

"Quiet?" completed Elesis.

"Yeah."

"I don't know. This place is like it's not seen even the wind going by in ages. It's all so still. Almost as if everyone here simply left. And this smell…"

"Hard to stand", said Lass, agreeing.

They remained quiet, listening to the silence. It was almost oppressive, like the air itself was heavy and hard to breath. That is, until Elesis screamed and fell on her knees, clutching the left side of her chest. Lass saw something shining from under the suit and her hand. He kneeled down beside her.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

She, apparently, wasn't listening to him. Whatever was shining under her suit started to make a sound of hot iron burning flesh, and she screamed again. Lass didn't know what to do. He reached out to remove her hands, but she shook him off with a harsh move and, surprising Lass, she grabbed the neck of her suit and pulled it open. And it was right there. Little above the heart, to the left of her sternum, there was a circle, with a six-point star inside and some strange indentations around, reminding him of the spell gates, who opened when a spell was cast. There was a single symbol inside the star. It reminded Lass of the Japanese _kanji._ _No, _whispered a voice in his mind. _The name is _jyuu, _and it means _kûiki. And what does _kûiki_ means?

"Decree", he whispered. "It's a seal…"

And how did he know that? It didn't matter at the moment. He knew what it was, and he would take whatever advantage could come out of it. _A seal_… That meant it was supposed to hold something. But what? Her powers? Was that seal the cause of her apparent weakness? Could it be that she was sealed, all along, and no one noticed? And if she was, who placed that thing there? Elesis moaned and dismounted on the floor. Passed out.

"Great. Now what?" he grunted. _Well, first I should find a place to get away from the open._ He looked around the alley again, but there were no doors in there. He zipped Elesis' suit back up her chest and took her arms, passing them over his shoulders and lifting her (once again, he noticed how light she was). That done, he walked out of the alley. The scene around him was breathtaking. He was in a long street that reminded him of Second Avenue. There were many cars scattered across the street, which stretched as far as his eye could see through the strange and oppressive gray smoke that filled the air. Lass walked up to one of the cars and finally found out where were the people of that place. And where the smell came from.

There were three highly decomposed bodies inside the car. One of them, in the passenger seat, was almost only bones. Lass looked at the street again and now he noticed just how many bodies there were lying around there. Against the walls, inside cars, buses, lying on the ground, there were bodies everywhere. He didn't know what had happened, but one thing was certain: that world wasn't simply silent. It was dead.

"Dead, yes", said a voice from behind him. "And so it's been since the Core awakened from its long sleep."

Lass turned in place (not really quickly, Elesis' body hindered his movements) and faced the place where he imagined the voice coming from. Some point above his shoulder. There was nothing there.

"Up here", called out the voice. Lass looked up and, on top of one of the tallest buildings around, there was the figure of a man carrying a katana. Without warning, the man jumped from the building. Lass thought he was insane, because the building was apparently more than 150 meters tall and in fact when the man landed on top of a car it was smashed with a loud crushing sound and lifted _a lot_ of dust. He walked out of the dust cloud, though, apparently unscathed. His katana was about seven to eight feet long. He was wearing red samurai-like armor and a white mask. Lass pulled out his left hand and called out one of the daggers. The man looked at it.

"Trisarkria. And I imagine Or-Könia is with you too. I remember those. Put your weapon away, demon. I'm just passing by. I may not be your ally, but I'm not here to fight you or your protected", he said, making his sword disappear as he spoke. "See? I disarm myself as well."

Against his will, Lass sent the dagger back into the joker.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Gaikoz" answered the man.

"What do you want here?"

"I didn't know he'd send you here. Though it makes sense, since the Core is here, waiting for a chance to be free again. I am a servant of The Lady", said Gaikoz. Lass immediately recognized the name the Red Gorgos'd said and pulled out his dagger again.

"That makes you my enemy", said Lass, already calculating how he would fight that man and protect Elesis at the same time.

"I said put that away, young demon. The way you are now, you can't face me. Neither am I interested in exchanging blows with one who is already doomed along with his beloved", Lass felt a shiver run down his spine at that. "And you didn't let me complete. I may serve under the Lady's armies, but I'm not her man. I do as she tells me to, yes, but she didn't tell me to fight you. It doesn't matter much to me if you survive or not. In fact, I'd very much prefer to see Gorgos, Gardosen and all those bastards under the ground."

"If so, could you tell me what's going on here?" asked Lass.

"Maybe I can. I have some time", stated Gaikoz, simply. "Now, listen. There is no use for me telling you who is The Lady. You can ask your master later. What you have to know to survive this world is: she is after your group. You pose a great threat to her. You, the Grand Chase."

"Grand Chase? Never heard that name."

"Of course you didn't. But now you will, and you must adopt such name, for that's who you are. I think you can put your protected down now, I mean you two no harm."

Lass placed Elesis carefully against a car and asked:

"And why is this Lady after us?"

"Because, among you, is Nairi. And it is your fate to guide her, protect her and make sure she fulfills _her_ Fate, which is to bring the Final Judgment upon The Lady with the power of the Creator. All of you, the Grand Chase as Fate determines it, are the last Duinath, the last Circle. All of you are both straight and round, keys to your own power, and your Fates are interconnected in such a way only a Circle can have it. You are the harbingers of the Lady's utmost Fate, one even she can't escape. And the Maker of such a fate is Nairi."

Lass interrupted Gaikoz's speech.

"Wait. You gotta be mistaken. There isn't anyone among us called Nairi."

"Oh but there is, demon. I know what I speak of. She only goes by another name. Among your group, you call her Lire."

FOUR - **Eraser**

When Arme ran into the Mineral Section, she instantly raised her left hand and punched something that flew straight to her head. Her hand contacted something hard, she heard a _crack_ and a crimson flying thing screamed (really high was that scream) and fell to the floor. Head smashed. Victor looked at her, amazed.

"I didn't see that comin'", he said. "When did you become so fast?"

"It's not fast, it's just reaction time", explained Arme. "As you can see, it's useful."

"GUYS! It's Mari! She's alive!" screamed Ryan, pointing at a cloud of those red flying things. The Big Red One (of course, the dragon outside was big, red and, hopefully, only one) was surrounded by those small dragons when Arme saw him through the window. They seemed to obey him. It made sense. _Who issues the orders? Me, of course, 'cause I'm the big one and, if you don't obey I'll step on all you bitches._ All over again, the big one points the targets. But they seemed to have chosen the wrong targets in that Section. Surprisingly enough, the place was full of dead orcs. There should be almost fifty of them lying around. The largest orc, who talked to them, was now fighting Sieghart, along with two small ones. No one else was anywhere to be seen but, in the middle of the cloud of crimson dragons, was Mari.

She was bathed in blood, from the orcs, the dragons or her own, Arme didn't know. Her grimoire was roughly twenty feet from her, on the ground, probably swept from her hands by a dragon. She was protecting herself with the WDW knives Arme'd seen before, in the Island. The dragons were flying around her, dashing and making small cuts in her suit and the skin beneath from time to time. She already had a worthy of worry collection of those. There were some dead dragons there as well, but not many. As Arme watched, another dragon dashed on, cutting her left arm. She waved the mentioned arm and a blade followed it, cutting the wings off the dragon, along with a piece of its back. With the same high scream of the others, the dragon fell, bleeding heavily. After seeing the thing's blood, Arme decided to act. Using something called instant dash the witch disappeared from the place she was standing to be, with almost no delay, kicking a dragon with enough strength to make the floor crack when the creature hit it. The sound was always the small explosion-like wave.

Before getting hit by any dragon, Arme turned around and hit the next dragon with a roundhouse. Same explosion-like sound and same incredible force. Arme felt, satisfied, the dragon's bones snapping under her foot before the thing was pushed and thrown against the opposite wall by the kick. Something moved at her left side, and she instinctively raised her arm, hitting a third dragon with the elbow right on the head. The fourth was dispatched just as quickly, burned by a fireball Arme shot from her hand with a quick and basic spell.

"GET DOWN!" screamed someone. Arme didn't even think: considering it was a human voice, she simply obeyed, throwing herself on the floor. She looked up only in time to see Mari holding what looked like a blue cannon half as big as her and pointing it to the dragons.

"ERASER!" she said. Arme recognized it was a commandment, before a blue beam of light erupted from the cannon. Mari turned it and the beam sweep through the entire Section. Arme watched, amazed, as the light cut the dragons, the objects scattered across the room and even the columns, leaving a long and smoking mark on the walls. The dragons fell like flies right after getting hit by the beam. The destructive power of that thing was probably enormous.

The beam and the cannon disappeared after Mari completed a whole rotation. The girl fell to her knees, apparently exhausted. Arme got up and saw how many dragons there were left: only about six. Victor wiped five of them out with a dazzlingly fast sequence of side punches (any punch with the side of the hand was deadly if you held a Vajra) and the last one fell under Ryan's axe.

Arme decided to take a quick leadership:

"Victor, Ryan!" they looked at her. Ready. "Go help Sieg, I'll stay with Mari"

Both men ran towards the battling orcs, and Arme kneeled down beside Mari.

"Are you alright?" asked the witch.

"You… have no idea… how much energy… that thing… requires… to fire", mumbled Mari, breathing heavily.

"Well, looking at your state, I kinda do", answered Arme. "Where're the others?"

Mari grabbed fiercely, despite her weakness, the front of Arme's suit, startling her.

"Lire!" she said, her voice unsettlingly nervous. "You've got to… find her…"

"Wait, now you're too weak, I need to take you—"

"Forget me!" ordered Mari, angry. "You don't get it… they're here… for her"

"How do you know that?"

"It doesn't… matter. Find her! HURRY!" she added when Arme didn't move. "I'll be fine!"

Arme got up hastily and talked to Mari one last time:

"If I find anyone, I'll send them here"

"Whatever, just go" hurried Mari.

Arme looked around, just to make sure of what she already knew: Lire wasn't in Mineral Section. She hurried to the nearest exit, thinking on the way:

_Lire, where are you?_

FIVE – **The dead Samurai**

Astonished, Lass took some time to react to that piece of information.

"Lire?" he said. "How can that be? If she's a First Born, that would make her more than", he did some counts in his head. "…two thousand years old!"

"Don't ask me, demon. I don't know and neither do I care" said Gaikoz. "I was only sent here to carry out the mission given me by the Lady. You will find heavy resistance on your way, for I have provided so."

"What do you mean?"

Gaikoz turned to the building he was standing on before and said:

"Do you know why I was there, demon? Of course you don't", he interrupted himself, and pointed along the long street they were in. "This street goes all the way to the other side of this place we're in. Down there, there is a single, ancient spear of rock coming from the ground. Inside it there is something of great value. A Core of the Ancient World. It has been awakened for some time, and now its power has been provoked by your arrival."

"So that's why he threw us here" realized Lass. "But what do we have to do with this Core?"

"So you met him. A mostly unpleasant experience, I am sure", Lass felt a trace of humor in the samurai's voice.

"Who is he?"

"His name is Gardosen. He is a demon lord of the All-World, and his name is highly known there. There is not much good in whatever you hear of him and, out of it, the bad is mostly also true."

"And he works for this Lady", stated Lass.

"Yes. So does the Red Gorgos. The Lady will do whatever it takes to escape her fate, even take rule over the likes of those two. And of a ghost such as me."

"Ghost?"

"I have been dead for some time, demon. The Lady turned me into a dead man walking. I cannot go against her words."

"And why are you Lady's men after the Core?"

"The Cores. There is more than one. And their power is the power of the one who made these realities who orbit the Strings. Power of a far higher order than anything even a god can bring to existence. Only two can control this power: The Lady and Nairi."

"And what do we have to do with that? I mean, I'm not Lire, neither is she", he indicated Elesis. "We don't control these Cores."

"The Cores are all under powerful bindings. Only one touched by Fate has the authority to undo the seals to unleash its power, but now you are here, there is no need for that. But you still can" explained Gaikoz. "One such as yourself. Or the Angel."

"Why do you guys keep calling her 'angel'?" asked Lass.

"For the same reason I call you demon, because that is what she is. You will find out. That is, if you live."

"Live through what?"

"I was sent to put obstacles in your way to the Core. You must not get there before Gardosen. Or at least that was the plan. There is a way, though, and I can tell you if you want."

"Why would you do that?" inquired Lass, suspicious.

"This place", said Gaikoz, ignoring Lass. "—is very much like the Manhattan Island of the Old World, but there are differences. You can go through the sewers about half the way, for there are fewer corpses there to be affected by my magic. After I leave this world, the spell I have cast upon the dead will make effect and they will be turned into my ghost soldiers, so I recommend you to go to the sewers. After that, you should go to the rooftops and stay there. But, of course, in this unknown place, you most likely do not know your ways. That is why you will have a guide."

"A guide?"

"Yes, a guide", confirmed Gaikoz. "If you do not find her, she will find you. You will know who she is, certainly, for it requires a liar to recognize liars as much as it requires a demon to recognize demons."

"Demon? There's a demon in this place?"

"You will know in due time. Right now, I must go. We will probably meet again, demon. Anyone who tries to interfere with the Grand Chase will be touched by their Fate, as I am now."

"Wait. Just tell me one thing", asked Lass. Gaikoz stood waiting, and he continued. "What did that Gardosen dude do to Elesis? What is that seal on her chest?"

Gaikoz shook his head.

"I am not authorized to speak about the Angel, demon. Ask your guide when you find her. Meanwhile, try to keep her away from the sun and, when she awakens, make sure she eats something. Anything will do. She will need all the energy she can get.

"Now take her, and leave this place before it turns from a graveyard into a battlefield."

Lass took Elesis up and asked:

"How do I get to the sewers?"

"Get in that building I jumped off from. Follow the signs and they will lead you to the underground. But keep in mind, I'm only giving you're the least dangerous route. There will still be ghosts down there. Always keep at least one eye open and aware."

"And how do I know when I must go up?"

"She will know. Now go, demon. You are a good person, after all, and do not deserve the cruelty that Fate has in store for you. May we meet again when you are not in a life and death situation and me, not in a mission to bring your death."

"Same here. Thanks for the intel, samurai", said Lass. He began running towards the building to find an entrance. When he found it, he was running so fast he didn't even look up to see the lifeless neon sign above the entrance. Neither did he look back to see when Gaikoz silently slashed his katana and ripped open a dimensional rift as if it was nothing, and muttered a Commandment before jumping into the darkness beyond reality.

"_Awaken."_

SIX – **The undead City**

All over the dead city, another type of life began to replace the beating hearts, running blood and electrical nerves that filled the world before the end. As the spell cast by Gaikoz took effect, the many corpses that lay inside that version of Manhattan started being moved by a different power source: magic. But magic was not as perfect as the breath of life that it replaced. There was no spirit inside the reborn corpses, no will, no beating heart or running blood. There wasn't even flesh, truth be told. They were ghosts. Not alive, but not dead. It is curious how many people consider narrow the space between alive and dead, and how they are mistaken. There were many ways of being alive, but not dead. Being a dead man walking. The ghosts were not dead, because they could be killed, but they were not alive, for their bodies were already rotten from a long time being dead.

Under the now living dead city, Lass Stronghold, the demon, walked into a dark and dirty subway station, still carrying Elesis Winchester, the Angel, on his back. He looked up to the only source of light in the place: a sign that read _Subway evacuation on indefinite hold_. That explained why there wasn't a single body down there. Lass breathed, relieved, and found a bench to put Elesis on, before sitting himself next to her. He calculated that, as long as they stood quiet, there would be no reason for the ghosts outside to break through the doors he sealed on his way down. For now, they were safe.

Now, it was time to know his ground. He, unwillingly, stood up again and started walking around the station. It was cramped with luggage left behind and turned over benches. Written on a column there was a message left by someone who was, certainly, already dead:

_God is across the Strings. We are forsaken._

Lass wondered what happened to that world. Gaikoz said the end began with the Core's awakening. _If only its awakening caused all this, _he reflected, _what will it do when it's released?_ There were so many unanswered questions burning his thoughts he didn't even know where to start. One of them, though, sounded louder than the others in his head: what happened to Elesis, and how could it be reversed? Whoever was that guide Gaikoz mentioned, that would be a great time for it to show up. He returned to Elesis and sat down next to her once again. He looked at her. When she fell in that alley, there was a tortured expression on her face. Now, she seemed to be simply sleeping, and her fair skin was flawless, without any marks or wrinkles of worry. Her calm sleep instilled in Lass an exhaustion as heavy as the tons of earth above his head. He fell asleep, his left hand resting, just for safety, on Elesis' leg.

SEVEN – **The Low Town**

Lass woke up with someone shaking him gently. At first, his consciousness refused to come back, as if it knew the hell that waited for it outside the world of the dreams, but he ended up coming to senses, to see Elesis' breathtaking eyes staring at him.

"I waited as much as I could", she whispered. "But I think it's time for you to tell me what the fuck's going on here."

Lass, still sleepy but regaining his mental facilities, whispered back:

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better", she answered. "I can't stand too long, and feel like I just got beat up really hard, but I'm still breathing."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Very tired. But it's my turn now. Where are we?"

After Lass told her all about Gaikoz and his mysterious words, she remained still for some time before saying anything.

"You mean this world… everyone is dead?" she asked.

"Yes. And that thing on your chest", Lass said. "That is a seal. I don't know of its nature or purpose, but it is a seal, and I have no clue on how getting it off from you."

"Maybe when we come back to the Old World, master can do it", said Elesis. Lass felt his chest tighten. _Maybe we won't even make it back to the Old World._

"Hey, don't look so down", said Elesis, placing her hand on his face and making him look again into her emerald-green eyes. She probably didn't realize her gesture had made his heart speed up its beats. "That Gaikoz said we have a guide, right? An ally. We'll make it to the Core."

"Yeah, we best", said Lass. "Before whatever killed this world catches up with us. Or with our ally."

"That's right. Now, I think I saw a food vending machine over that way. Maybe there's something worth taking."

"Great", said Lass, sarcastically. "Now we're stealing from dead people. Is this any better than looting a battle ground in which you took no part?"

"No, it's not. But it'll have to do. Besides, we're not even sure those things are edible."

Lass had to leave Elesis on the bench and go find the vending machine. It was still whole, which he considered a miracle, and there were some things inside it he considered safe to eat. When he took them back, he laid them down before the Angel and said:

"So, which one do you want?"

"You went for them, take your pick", answered Elesis.

"You need to eat. Gaikoz said you'll need all the energy you can get. That sounds reasonable to me. You take _your_ pick."

"Okay then… I'll take the potatoes and those cookies over there."

"There you go, Elesis-sama", said Lass, handing the requested items to her with a half-smile.

"Sama?" inquired Elesis. "Interesting."

She opened the potatoes as quietly as she could and started eating. Lass picked up a chocolate bar. It wasn't exactly good, but it was certainly not poisonous. He ate three of them and placed what was left in a plastic bag (since there were many lying around among the junk). After Elesis finished her meal, he commented:

"I'm afraid now you're thirsty."

"Sort of. Nothing to be desperate about" she said. "Now, for the troublesome things: where do we go from here?"

"One thing I'm sure", said Lass. "Not up. It's crawling with those ghost freaks."

"Did you see them?"

"Sort of. From afar and only concentrated on not making any noise. It's way too dangerous to walk around up there. I don't know the level of their strength, but they can easily overcome two of us on the numbers. You didn't see it, how many bodies there was up there. If every single one of them is now a ghost…"

He saw Elesis' understanding it. She sighed and said:

"Well, then we should follow this tunnel and find a way into the sewers. Maybe we can find our guide there."

She started to get up, but Lass forced her down and said:

"You won't be walking if I can avoid it. I'll carry you like I did when you passed out."

"But I'm fine", protested her. Lass shook his head.

"Waste too much energy, and you'll pass out again. If you stay conscious, we'll be two looking around instead of one."

"But…" she seemed hesitant. "Won't I be just dead weight then?"

She seemed genuinely worried about that, and Lass saw the worry through her eyes. Like he always did in these times, Lass resorted to humor.

"Hey, c'mon, that look is blackmail", he said, getting a smile out of her. "It's not like I'm doing such a great thing, since you're actually pretty light."

"Always good to hear that from a guy with superstrength", mocked her.

"And how much do you weight?" he mocked back at her. She slapped his arm, laughing.

"Don't you know it's rude to ask that to a girl?"

Lass apologized and noticed how the mood got a little better between them. That was good, not only because he wanted to be in good terms with her. If they were working together, things would be a little easier. Not a lot, but a little easier.

"Well, then let's get going" he said, picking her up again. "We've stood here for too long."

She agreed silently and, after packing their little stuff up, they took off. Elesis was carrying the bag with the food and water they gathered. As Lass walked inside the long tunnel, he cast a quick spell to make a bottle in his hand glow like a flashlight. With that feeble light shining in his hands, Lass Stronghold walked into the darkness, with Elesis Winchester vigilant behind him.

EIGHT – **The other Demon**

The first time Lass saw the ghosts created by Gaikoz, he was running not only for his life, but also for the life of the sleeping angel on his back. This time, though, he was walking under the undead city of New York with a weak light on his right palm, and the world weighted on his head. The light revealed about thirteen ghosts. They were not at all the ethereal beings Lass'd expected to see, instead they looked simply like corpses, walking around and shining with a faint iridescent green light. Lass, silently, put Elesis down (he was glad to see she stood firmly on her feet) and pulled out Trisarkria and Or-Könia. Elesis pulled out the Undoing as well, but she'd already agreed with Lass not to fight if she could avoid it. _Well, they're just unarmed corpses_, Lass thought. _How hard can it be?_

This was answered when, all at once, the ghosts' hands were lit with green, lifeless flames, which converted to pale swords. Also, all at once, their energy shone to Lass' mental eye like lights in the middle of the ghosts' chests.

And they were huge.

"Oh, my, do you see that?" asked Elesis, behind him. Lass figured she was referring to their energy.

"That looks like trouble" he said, assuming a defensive stance.

One of the ghosts appeared instantly in front of him. A normal human would never keep up with that speed, but Lass was already expecting it. When the ghost slashed its pale blade, Lass held the blow with his right hand and returned it with the left dagger. He assumed the sharp blade would cut the ghost in half, but it merely ran through its body without touching it. It seemed ghosts were, in fact, immaterial.

One ghost ran past him with that incredible speed even his enhanced senses had a hard time to follow. He realized where it was going before it was even halfway though and materialized in the thing's way, slashing both daggers at it simultaneously. It did no better effect than in the first try, and the ghost hit the side of his head with its sword's hilt, throwing him against the tunnel wall violently. There was almost no pain, though, and he immediately got back on his feet, only to see the ghost already standing before him, raising his sword to strike a final blow. Lass instinctively looked at Elesis for help, but there were two ghosts trying to strike her. _No help in on the way_. Lass had time to consider that, maybe, he would not heal from a cut made by those ghostly swords. That was, before his help arrived.

Punching the ghost straight in the ribs.

The shockwave was amazing. Lass calculated that punch as to be strong enough to throw a car in the air. His thoughts, running at a high speed, registered that somehow that hand made contact with the ghost's body, unlike his slashes. The ghost was thrown almost parallel to the ground for about ten meters, and landed loudly on the stone floor, which cracked open at the impact. Lass' eyes flew back at the person who punched the ghost, and he only saw a blur when the figure dashed towards the ghosts attacking Elesis. With almost simultaneous blows, the figure launched both ghosts against the wall, making holes on it with the force of the impact. The figure stopped and stood erect. Lass got a good look at its face.

It was a girl. But unlike any other girl he'd ever seen. She wore a dark training suit, open at the sides and revealing much of her curvaceous figure. Her hair was dark pink, and her eyes were green, darker than Elesis' emerald tone. The girl's skin was pale like Lass' own, only a different, purple-like tone, and a playful smile danced on her lips. The most unusual feature to her, though, was the fact that there was a purple horn coming out of her head on the left side, and five smaller ones coming out from the right, being that two of them ran along her face, instead of being erect out of the skull. The first thing Lass thought upon seeing her was: _The ghosts were bad. This one is worse._

"Well, well, you are having trouble with _des morts vivants, _the unliving? Such a pity", she said, turning to the ghosts. Her voice carried a heavy French accent. "Those are worthless creatures, who are not even capable of putting up a decent fight."

She turned those green eyes to Lass and smiled openly. He noticed her canine teeth were extremely sharp.

"You'll have to wait" she said, pointing at him. Then she turned back to face the ghosts. "Right now, I have to claw all these puppets to shreds!"

That said, she jumped straight to the front, and the ground where she stood cracked at the pressure of her feet. She hit a ghost with an uppercut, and Lass noticed she was only hitting them with her left hand, where she was wearing a most strange glove. It was only on the points of her fingers and the hand itself, and made of an unknown metal. And, apparently, it greatly boosted her physical strength. There was a purple aura around both her fists.

Lass considered she could easily destroy all the ghosts only on the punching, but she backed off and he heard her voice muttering quickly a spell. To his surprise, she was chanting in English:

"Make way to the force that erases even light, the focus deadly upon the fabric of truth", she chanted quickly. When she raised her hand, the glove was shining with purple light which colored the walls with a dead luminescence. He noticed energy focusing at her back.

"_Sphère Gravitationelle!_"

A purple spell circle appeared behind her and about ten balls of black energy hurled from it. When the black spheres came in contact with the ghosts, they simply dismounted like dolls whose limbs are pulled from the main body. Lass appreciated the fact he was away from the ghosts, for their blood bathed that section of the tunnel from top to bottom. Curiously, their blood was not red, but blue and fluorescent. After the black spheres stopped flying and disappeared, there wasn't a single ghost standing in their way. Only the mysterious girl who slaughtered them all single-handedly was now between the two Corporates and their way into the sewers. To Lass' desperation, when she turned to look at him, the homicidal look in her eyes had only gotten more pronounced. She smiled again, exhibiting her long canines, and said:

"Now, it's your turn."

She disappeared and Lass, remembering her strange glove, dived to his left, knowing she would strike him with her left hand first. He could survive a hit from her right fist, but if she found his body with that super-destructive left hand, it would be a one-hit K.O.

He calculated correctly. When the girl appeared before him, she punched the place where he was standing a millisecond ago with her left hand. The blow hit the wall behind him and smashed it, making a frightening sound all across the tunnel. _She'll bring the whole fucking place down this way!_, he thought. He tried to pull out his daggers, but noticed he was not holding them anymore. He'd left them on the floor when he dived to avoid the assassin blow from the girl's hand. Unarmed it was, then. His hopes were shrinking. Elesis, he noticed with the corner of his eye, was now standing and holding the Undoing firmly, yet without knowing where to strike. The mysterious girl had disappeared in that phantom speed again and, one second in time, he saw her coming at him once again. This time he jumped, slightly to the left side again, and again it worked. Her powerful punch passed right under his raised right arm, and he felt a strong wind on his face. _Moved by the energy wave of her punch_, he realized. _And pushed by the impact._

This time he tried to return the blow. With all the strength he could gather, he tried to hit her with his right fist, but she disappeared before his punch landed. The energy wave of his own punch hit the floor where she stood before evading, making the dust on it rise in a suffocating cloud. _Fuck!_ Now he would not see her coming. Luckily, the dust also impaired her sight and, when her blow came, it was with the right hand. Her fist hit him on the sternum and he was pushed back with overwhelming force. He landed on his back three meters away. The blow hurt, but only for a moment. He jumped back on his feet and saw Elesis waving the Undoing at the girl, enjoying the lack of visibility provided by the dust could. The girl managed to avoid most of the sword's extent, but still a small cut appeared on the immaculate skin of her cheek. She dashed backwards, out of the dust, and laughed. Lass watched, terrified, as the blood (hers was red) ran down staining her skin for a moment, before the wound closed by itself. Quickly. Lass was left with no doubts of what he was facing now.

The girl was a demon.

"Is that all two Chasers can perform?" she asked, taunting them. "I seriously expected more of the legendary last Circle."

"Fuck off, demon" said Lass. "We don't even know who you are!"

She materialized in front of him, her hands at her back, and said right at his face:

"And who are you to talk of me, _demon?_"

He reacted, trying to hit her with his right hand again. She ducked and avoided the punch. Lass grinned, and simply waited to see three cuts appear on the girl's face. The delayed energy put in that punch did that. After a split second, the demon girl was responding to it with a blow from her left hand. Lass was already expecting that answer and dashed to his left, easily avoiding the otherwise devastating blow. Instead of trying to hit him again, the girl jumped and kicked him right across the face. Her kick was also pretty strong, but Lass managed to withstand the impact and stay on his feet. He reached out to grab her leg, but she, to his surprise, dashed while on air and avoided it. After she landed, she raised her glove-covered hand to the cuts on her cheek. After they healed, she said:

"Well, maybe you're not a complete waste. You managed to see through my strength and avoided all my left side strikes. But it's still too far from defeating me. If you don't put up a proper fight…" she paused and licked the metal glove on her left hand, seductively. "I'll claw you to shreds where you stand."

"Well, then you'd better get ready", said Lass. "'Cause now you've lost the surprise element, I'll be going all out on you!"

NINE – **Lass Stronghold vs. Ley of the Crimson River**

"What do you mean?" asked Elesis. "You want to fight her by yourself? I'll help!" she determined, holding the Undoing with a stronger grip.

"No", said Lass, waving his hand at his fellow 'chaser'. "Avoid fighting if you can, remember?! I can handle this one."

"A not very smart-ish idea, my fellow demon", said the girl. "You are not nearly as strong of a demon as me."

Lass didn't answer. He was making his energy run through all the muscles of his body, making them tense, ready to act with incredible speed and strength. That was a full activation technique that Arianne had taught him in the beginning of his hand-to-hand fight training, that expanded a rather large amount of energy to top the user's physical prowess during the skill's influence. And, to fight that girl, he was going to need his maximum skill.

He attacked her and, just like before, the floor cracked at his feet's extreme pressure when he jumped, reaching an insanely high speed. The demon girl seemed able to follow it, since she parried his punch and tried to return it with her destructive left hand. Lass avoided it by bending sideways and, being now even faster than before, managed to grab firmly her arm and pull her to the front, while placing his elbow in front of her face. The blow's double impact knocked her to the floor. Before he could hit her with his foot, she used her own to kick his legs and make him fall down as well. Both of them jumped back on their feet immediately, as if nothing happened, and resumed exchanging blows at increasing fury and speed.

Lass was faster than the demon girl, that was evident after a minute or so of fight. This was counterweighted by the fact that he was being forced to avoid, at all costs, being hit by her left hand. After three long minutes fighting, neither Lass nor the girl managed to land any particularly strong hits, and Elesis, watching from a safe distance, was amazed by the speed and force of their moves. Many holes were now opened on the tunnel walls, thanks to the missed punches and kicks from the two fighters. In the middle of the battle, Lass had stopped and summoned a single-layered barrier around himself. Those barriers were used to deflect physical and magical attacks and could be single or multi-layered. The multi-layered ones could drastically increase one's durability, making them very hard to hit, since any strike or spell had to, before hitting the user, pass through the barrier, which would dissipate its impact and energy. Lass, though, wasn't fool enough to believe a low level, single-layered barrier could hold a hit from the girl's left hand: that barrier was supposed to hold any spells she could decide to cast at him. And, in fact, after he managed to deliver a rather strong hit at her stomach, she backed off about five meters and started casting, once again in English.

"May the up become down and light turn to dark, reversed be the worlds and compressed onto the same void of the primeval landscape" she chanted. Lass focused on his barrier and thickened it as much as he could, preparing to hold off whatever that spell created.

She raised the glove on her left hand, and it was shining even more fiercely than during her first spell.

"_Passage Secret!_"

This time, the spell circle appeared around her wrist and a single black sphere came hurling at him. The energy in that sphere was palpably larger than in the other spheres from the first spell, and it was heavily condensed. If Lass had that kind of energy thrown at him half a year later, he would have known what it was going to do and exactly how to counter it. The current Lass, though, wasn't even a complete demon, and the limitations of his soul hindered his potential heavily. Being so, he didn't try to avoid the sphere, but to take it and withstand whatever came out of it. His weak barrier fell at the first energy wave of the spell.

To understand exactly what happened to Lass at that time, it's required to go inside his memories, to a day around April, when Arianne told the Chasers about condensed energy.

"Most spells fully unleash the activation energy the caster pours into their formulas" spoke their blonde master. "Those common spells can be quite devastating, since they are simply energy output. But, if you're the type of fighter who likes to put up some strategy, there are two ways of doing so: condensed spells and delayed spells."

"Delayed spells, like a spell you cast and hits only after you're dead meat on your enemy's hands?" asked Jin, with a laugh. The Chasers laughed too, but their master simply waited for them to stop, to then resume.

"Or a spell that only works to get you to somewhere in time if you're late?" suggested Sieghart, getting more laughs. Arianne nicely asked them to shut up (she threw a stone table at Sieghart) and said:

"I won't teach you how to delay spells, since most of you can't even cast a whole one. Rather, I'll tell you now the concept behind condensed energy. Some spells consume a fairly large amount of energy to be created, but don't give off the looks of being so powerful. That's because the activation energy of those spells is condensed. Around the condensed energy, there's a membrane of thicker energy, to contain the spell's true power. Once the spell's membrane hits something, _anything_, it will blow and the energy within will burst. The first expansion, the membrane's explosion, has an incredible barrier-piercing feature, making condensed spells the best call against low to middle level barriers. But, because the membrane will trigger at any contact, they are also very unstable, and dangerous to use in a place where there are allies which can be hit."

Lass had never seen a condensed spell in his life, so he didn't recognize that the demon girl's was one. His barrier was wiped out by the first expansion as if it was merely a piece of fabric, leaving him to withstand the spell's full power only with the durability of his demonic body. Luckily for him, he was no standard demon. He was a pureblood, and both his demons parents were, even though he didn't know at the time, demons with amazing powers. Even limited by his soul, Lass' power was strong enough to survive what came after his barrier was lost: the spell's effect didn't seem to be an explosion, but instead it was pulling him _in_, holding him around what looked like a small black hole. _Gravity magic?_, Lass wondered. That was the last thing he actually thought, because, for the first time in about one month, his body was assaulted with pain. His bones were breaking beneath the skin and his brain seemed to be swelling in the skull. Repeatedly he felt his arms and legs snapping like matches and going back to place, mending just to be broken again by the spell's powerful gravitational field. And all the time expanding his energy to do so. Lass drove all of his tortured mind's efforts into stopping the regeneration, otherwise his death from lack of energy would be unavoidable. First, his breathing would stop. Then it would be his heart. Finally, brain death. Game over.

And suddenly the spell was over. Lass fell on his knees, so great was the surge of exhaustion from healing over and over again from having his body shattered. But, he noticed, still in one piece and bearing only superficial wounds. At the last moment, when he thought his energy was going to be wasted to the last, he managed to stop the auto-heal of his blood and keep his life. He was in a terrible shape now, panting heavily and feeling like he'd just run from West to East Coast. Between his hard breaths, he heard someone else panting. When he looked up he saw the mysterious girl, hands on her knees, also apparently exhausted. _The spell did this to her?_ According to logic, a condensed spell would expand more energy than a standard one. And, it seemed, the demon girl had just crossed her own line.

"To survive such spell", she said between her breaths. "You are more resilient than I thought."

"Heh", he grinned. "Right now, I'm in a pretty bad shape. I think it's your win."

She shook her head.

"No. I intended to fight both of you and now, if I challenge the Angel, she will defeat me even limited by Gardosen's seal. You won, demon", said the girl. After that, she did something that surprised Lass to the extreme: took off her glove and threw it at his feet, going down on her knees next. "Now my fate is in your hands."

Lass was left speechless, so Elesis spoke to her.

"How do you know about the seal? Who are you?" she asked.

"I know because that seal was not put on you by Gardosen. Not even he has what it takes to seal your powers. They are far too vast for that. He only activated it. You've been carrying that limiter ever since you came from the All-World."

"Came… from the All-World?" muttered Elesis.

"And, about who I am… My name is Ley of the Crimson River, and right now, I'm your guide to the Core of Pride."

TEN – **Ahead and inside**

"Guide?!" asked Lass, incredulous. "You mean you wanted to do this all along?"

"Not a chance", proclaimed Ley. "Were you not able to defeat even _moi_, there wouldn't be a chance in hell you'd reach the Core."

"Why would we want to reach the Core anyways?" asked Elesis.

"Oh, you don't know?", Ley seemed rather surprised. "Thought Gaikoz would've told you, that sword-happy _fou_. There's no way to remove your chains, Angel. They were placed on you by a power beyond your imagination so far. Even the Knight Master isn't capable of breaking that. Only an even greater power can cancel the seal."

"And that would be the Core's power? You want me to use its power to break this seal?" she asked, placing her hand over the spell circle tattooed on her skin.

"No way", answered Ley, looking at Elesis as if she was surprised by the redhead's innocence. "One does not use a Core's power. It's uncontrollable. If you try, it will kill you before you even notice. But the Core's been asleep for so long, and now it's awakened, it needs to be released. And do you know how it will be released? You do, correct?"

"By being touched by a person under the influence of Fate", realized Elesis.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ley, looking very pleased. "And now for the part that I'm sure as inferno you don't know: the first one to touch it will, if not die, be left so close to death they will actually be reborn!"

She laughed at that for about two minutes, while Lass and Elesis switched between looking at her, bent by the force of her laughs, and looking at each other, both with the same "What-the-fuck" face. After Ley finally ceased laughing, Lass asked:

"What do you mean by reborn?"

"That was a funny way to put it, wasn't it?" she asked, all smiley and sympathetic. Lass didn't answer, and she closed her expression. "Well, fine, if you didn't like it!" She crossed her arms and turned her back.

Once again, Lass was left with no words and a puzzled look by her reaction.

"What, are you not going to apologize?" asked Ley, fiercely.

"Apologize for what?" asked Lass, confused.

"You just offended me!" yelled Ley.

Lass looked at Elesis and waved his shoulders, looking for support, and found her looking at him intensely. Her lips formed the words "just do it". _Nike style, huh? Just do it._

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything like that" he made up. "How about if we… uh… start again, eh?"

She turned to face him, smiling that same dangerous smile form when she turned to fight him.

"Okay. But if you do that again", she advised. "I'll claw you to shreds."

"Claw me to… ah, fuck that shit", grunted Lass. "What did you mean by reborn?"

"I meant", she explained. "That the first one to touch the Core of Pride will have his or her soul completely cleaned. Of everything. That means, if the Angel—" she pointed at Elesis. "—is the first to touch it, her seal will be removed. Along with all the gifts from the gods, of course, but I judge that's a good deal."

"Wait!" interrupted Elesis. "Why do all of you keep calling me 'angel'? What does that means?"

"Well, that's obviously because you are an Angel", stated Ley.

"Huh?" admired Lass. "You mean angels exist as well?"

"They exist", confirmed Ley.

"And… I'm one?" asked Elesis, hesitant. "But I'm just human, how can I…"

"Just human?" asked Ley, incredulously. "What, does that seal affects your ears too? I just said you're an Angel, so you logically can't be 'just human'."

Lass didn't know what to say. Elesis being an angel? _I guess I _can_ believe it, since I'm a demon myself_, he reasoned. But, in fact, he thought demons were scary creatures who served Satan, the Devil or whatever. Turns out, they were just another race from the All-World. Could the angels also be?

"She's an angel…" started Lass.

"Good, you got that much!" cheered Ley.

"So angels are a race of another reality as well?"

Ley walked up to him and hit his head with her knuckles. Not strong enough to hurt, just a very strange act of reprieve.

"Wrong", she said. "Demons are a race, so angels are too, that's what your head made up? Makes sense, but no. A demon is just some guy who has demon blood. Pure, like yours, or mixed like mine. An angel is a war construct, crafted by the gods to be the greatest, most powerful, most amazing warriors you can think of. They're really rare, you know. Glad we have one with us!" she finished, clapping her hands together.

"War… construct?" stuttered Elesis.

"Aye."

"Made by the gods?"

"To the last bone."

"How?"

"Geez, how should I know? They're gods."

"Whose gods?"

"Well, they live in the All-World, I know that, but more I can't tell you. The Knight Master overknowledges me in that. You should ask her."

"Overknow… Ah, fuck it. You mean she knew?" Elesis suddenly seemed really angry.

"Ha, of course she knew. She was in the war fifty years ago too. Pretty much everyone in the Polygonal Net knows who you are."

Elesis would probably ask more, but a loud crashing sound came from somewhere behind them, echoing on the crushed walls of the subway tunnel. They all looked at that way, and Ley reached out to take her glove from the ground. Once she had put it back on her left hand, it created a beam of purple light from the palm. The demon girl directed the beam to the tunnel. Not far from where they stood, a side door had just been broken open and three ghosts had passed through it. Ley immediately turned off the light and whispered, so low they only heard because of their sharp ears:

"This way. Quietly."

Lass and Elesis followed her steps, along the metal rails on the ground. Soon, the noises were gone. Only their footsteps were heard, and they were so weak it was practically nothing. The oppressive silence and darkness were everywhere. After about twenty minutes of that dark and silent walk, Ley suddenly came to a halt. Lass and Elesis stopped and Lass asked:

"What?"

"It's here", whispered Ley.

She kneeled down and lit a weak light from her hand, revealing a hole blasted on the stone floor, under a rail and therefore barely visible. It led to the most complete and overwhelming darkness Lass'd ever seen, like a hole in everything, leading to nothing. Ley said:

"We'll have to crawl, and it is fairly long, but I guarantee you, there is a way out, and it leads to the sewers."

"You mean that's a tunnel?!" asked Elesis, her voice shaking with apprehension.

"Aye. Fairly long, as I said, but you'll just have to endure it. Why, are you that kind of person who is afraid of tunnels and snake-ish places?"

"Claustrophobic?" suggested Lass.

"Yes, that one. Fucking long words", cursed Ley.

"No, I'm not claustrophobic", answered Elesis. "I can do it, I just… won't like it."

"Like?" mocked Ley. "Well, I guess a mole would like it. I won't like it either. Just go."

Neither Lass nor Elesis moved.

"After you", said Lass. Ley smiled, though without any amusement.

"Don't trust me yet, do you?" she asked. "Fair, and wise I'd say. Fine, I'll go first."

After she snuck in the hole, Lass muttered:

"How the fuck could we already trust her after she tried to break my neck?"

"I can hear that", came Ley's voice from the hole.

Lass waved his shoulders and stepped aside so that Elesis could get in. She looked up at him, puzzled.

"I imagined you'd go first", she whispered.

"Yeah, well, I want to be there if anything crawls at us from behind", answered Lass. "So, go."

She didn't argue and followed Ley. Lass was the last to disappear in the small tunnel. On his knees and hands, he crawled in to the true blackness.

ELEVEN – **The takeover of Pride**

"Wow. Now _this_ is black", admired Lass.

All he could do was hear his voice. His hand, right in front of the eyes, was not visible. He could only hear. Smell. Infer.

That was really turning into the worst and longest day of his life.

"What, are you scared of the dark?" asked Ley's voice, scornfully.

"No fucking way", denied the demon. "I'm the man around here."

"Were you a real demon", replied Ley. "The dark would not be a problem, asshole."

"You mean you can see in the dark?" asked Elesis, curious judging by her voice.

"Kind of", her voice's sound was followed by a short sequence of footsteps and a loud slapping sound. Lass cursed loudly.

"FUCK! That was you, wasn't it, you hell-hooker?! Want me to beat you again?"

"Like you could" she said. Lass noticed through the sound that she was standing right before him. "You're so blinded down here I could claw you to shreds using only two fingers."

Lass muttered something and suddenly a sphere of blue light appeared, revealing the two demons, standing, arms crossed and shoulder against shoulder, less than a foot from one another, exchanging a fierce look.

"You wanna fight, I'll put up some lights so I can see you bleed!" provoked Lass.

"I'll feed on your lifeless carcass, you failed devil", threatened Ley.

"STOP!" yelled Elesis, putting a commandment into the word. Even though she had no hope of beating one of the demons in an all-out fight, her command worked. They simply stopped.

"If you have the time to build up rivalry", said the redhead. "Then you can walk, while our beloved guide can answer some questions."

At first they didn't move, but soon Ley walked away and raised her hands.

"Okay, wouldn't want to give the Angel any reasons to hate me", she said. "We'll continue later, bleach head."

"Anytime you want, half-breed."

"Can we get moving?" asked Elesis. Ley began walking to their front, but Lass asked:

"How do you know it's that way?"

"We have to move to a certain place near the Island's border" she explained. "The ground, if you notice, isn't level. It's designed in a way that, when there's a great flux of water coming through here, the inclination will lead the flood _out_ of the island. If we move with that flow, that is, down, we'll be going outside, closer to our way up and to the Core of Pride."

"Seems like you know this place well", commented Elesis, following Ley. "How long have you been here?"

"Ever since the Core awoke", said Ley. "This world's decay was quick, and its end merciless."

"How did everyone die?"

"The Core of Pride poisoned the minds of their leaders. They were led to believe nothing could stop their growth. The place where the Core woke first was also the first to break. Iran, or this world's version of it, decided to create the ultimate weapon, to overcome all others. In an attempt to stop this, the United Nations attacked them, leaving only a wrecked desert and millions of refugees on their wake and, eventually, coming in contact with the Core itself.

"After that, everything went downhill. The United Nations started to avert in interests. That always happened, of course, but this time the Pride was taking them over. It was the Core talking through their mouths. It was not too long before the built up tensions from Iran's invasion and the UN's arguments turned into a worldwide conflict. Two weeks after the beginning of the war most of the world was a nuclear ruin, but the president of the USA, convinced that nothing could kill him, unleashed the final blow on the life of this Earth. He exploded his strongest nuclear weapon in the Earth's orbit. The EMP that followed destroyed pretty much all the electronic devices below the Equator, while the North Hemisphere was burned to death by the ionized atmosphere. Everything turned to ash up here while, down below, the anarchy swallowed them all. I don't believe there're many alive now. Those who live, do so just to survive."

"And how did _you_ survive?" asked Lass.

"The Core protected this area from the blast. The people here died because of something else." she said. "Radiation. It's still around."

"What? You mean there's still radiation here? That means we'll die as well?"

"Well, radiation _does_ kill. Humans. But there isn't a single human in this cheerful group of ours, is there?"

Lass saw the veracity of her words.

"You mean radiation doesn't affect us?"

"It won't kill you, if that's what you are asking. But it does hinder demons. Our dear Angel, though, is completely immune."

"How?" asked Elesis.

"Well, radiation is very deadly; there aren't many things in the Omniverse completely immune to it. So, when the gods created their weapons, they made you Angels immune, so that you'd be even more the perfect soldiers. You _are_ weapons of war, I mean."

Lass noticed Elesis wasn't pleased at all for being called weapon of war. _I wouldn't like, too._

"So… explain this better", said Elesis, changing the topic. "If I get to the Core before anyone else, I can break this seal on my chest?"

"Aye", confirmed Ley. "All the Cores were made by the Creator to bind all of the forces that are capable of destroying Creation. Therefore, the magic that makes their existence possible is far higher than anything even the Gods can make. When anyone with Fate's touch comes in contact with the Core, it will be released, in such a storm of primeval energy that the one to release it will have his soul extinguished and born anew. The person lives, the power doesn't. If you succeed, Angel, you will be returned to you original state. Free from the chains placed on you by your own makers. But also rid of the powerful flames they gave you on birth."

Elesis stopped taking for a while to reflect on those revelations, as they moved on through the tunnel. The smell was just like Lass'd have guessed the sewers of Manhattan would smell: terrible. Besides the darkness, that was the most screaming feature of the place. The sound of their footsteps echoed all the way.

"What is it that this seal is… sealing?" asked Elesis. Lass noticed her voice was shaking.

"The main stream of your powers. It also causes you to expand energy during Rupture and, if you were to ever begin doing Soulcraft, it would make you sick and weakened, as well as making your skin react to the Sun. All intended so that you wouldn't develop to be as strong as you were before, ever again."

Lass noticed the same thing as Elesis, but she asked first, some hope returning to her voice:

"You mean if I get rid of it, this sunburns will stop too?"

"Aye."

"Then I don't care about the price. If I return to being normal human strong, it won't change much, since I'm not that strong, anyways. I will reach the Core and destroy this thing—" she placed her left hand on the seal. "—before anyone else does."

"That's good", said Ley. "Keep that in mind, while we cross this dead city."

The three continued their walk through the sewers of Manhattan for almost two hours, time when Ley told them they should find a way up.

"Already?" asked Lass. "I thought it'd take longer."

"Well, Manhattan isn't so big", justified Ley. "If we go up this stairs", she indicated a vertical ladder on the wall. "—we can reach the top of a building. It will be harder from now on. On you, I mean."

"What do you mean, 'on you'?"

"I mean a demon with soul may not succeed", she answered, scornful. "Why don't you give me yours?"

"Fuck you, half-breed", cursed Lass. "I'll be there before you can say 'where is he'!"

"If I don't knock you out of a rooftop first", threatened Ley.

"Stop… it", muttered Elesis. Lass was terrified to notice her voice so weak. She was getting worse. "Let's just mo… move on."

The effort of speaking seemed too much for her. She leaned forward and Lass noticed she was going to fall asleep again. He moved, faster than the eye could follow, and held the angel before she hit the stone below.

"Ellie", called Lass. He was, again, trying to keep his cool, so as not to make anything stupid, but it was quite hard with the girl he liked sick in his arms. "Hang in there. Are you awake?"

"Yes", confirmed her. "Just… dizzy."

"Just hold tight. I'll carry you from here again", assured Lass. "Try not to fall off."

"Worry about yourself", advised Ley, firmly. "It'll be a long way up, specially carrying someone."

"I don't care. Just lead the way."

Ley turned and started climbing the ladder. Without Lass noticing, she smiled. The first real smile that crossed her face in a long time.

**Author's Afterword: **I stopped writing this story in the last couple of months. A couple of months in which I did absolutely nothing but work, sleep and play games in my free time. I genuinely saw no reason to continue writing. I still don't, but I decided to start writing again. It just does me good, to get this out of my head. Someone else might read. Isn't that the point of ?

So I give you my longest chapter thus far. Fourteen thousand words, my (hopefully) readers. You want blood? I'm giving you blood!

Some people don't like long texts. I enjoy both long and short fics. One-shots are enjoyable, if done properly. Long fics are enjoyable _if done properly_. I'm always worried about doing properly. It's good, I think. Keeps me on my feet, always double, triple, quadruple checking stuff before publishing. Another reason I take long.

Just updated the story description. Rated M for language. This may change. Later. I'll leave that in the air for your conclusions *evil laugh*.

Reasonable reviews are welcome. Focus on reasonable. Concrit is _very_ welcome. Flaming is not welcome, and you want to flame me, might as well save your precious time and read something else. Trust me; you won't be saying anything I haven't eventually told myself already.

Nobody questions me more than I question myself and _nobody_ hates my stuff more than I do. Until next time.


	13. The Two Highlanders

**Chapter Thirteen == The Two Highlanders**

ONE – **Across the abyss**

There were three ghosts on the top of the World Trade Center Tower One. They didn't last even ten seconds after the three Chasers arrived. The two who were walking, both demons, took one out each barehanded and the white-haired man threw the third over the border, to the long fall of over three hundred feet.

"How the fuck did these guys end up dying here?" he asked, suppressing his energy and returning to his Outer self.

"Maybe they wanted to die closer to their god", guessed the demon girl. Lass pouted.

"Closer to the stratosphere, that's what this is", he grunted, trying to evaluate a fall from there.

Lass walked to an air conditioning machine, which he had used to lean Elesis calmly against before slaughtering the ghosts, and picked the angel up again. She was even lighter than before.

"Wake her up", demanded Ley. "She's being a burden."

"Who asked you?", retorted Lass. "I'm the one carrying her, not you. Besides, it won't work to try and wake her up. She's out cold."

"Well, it'll be your worry to jump from here to the Empire State carrying her."

"The Empire State?" asked Lass. "So that's what he meant by 'an ancient spear of rock'."

"Gaikoz said that? He always uses the fancy words", reflected Ley.

"Wait", interrupted Lass, suddenly realizing something. "We're going to the Empire State, from the WTC, on foot by the fucking _rooftops_?!"

"Aye."

"Don't 'aye' me!" yelled Lass. "That's fucking ridiculous!"

"No it's not. You're a _zannoinen_, aren't you?"

"So what? I'm a _zannoinen_, not a storm rider!"

"What in the Strings is a storm rider?" asked Ley, sarcastic.

"Humans with motorized in-lines", said Lass, briefly. Of course she wouldn't know. He didn't even know if she'd ever been to the Old World. When her expression didn't change, he continued. "Never mind. One way or another, I can't fly."

"But you can jump!"

Having said that, Ley ran off to the border and jumped. Higher than anyone Lass'd ever seen, high enough to cross the distance between the two towers and land, on her feet and without falling, on the WTC2.

"But can you do it carrying that burden?" asked her, from the other side, screaming over the wind.

Lass held Elesis firmly, strengthening his legs for the jump.

"I won't leave her behind", he said to himself. "Not while I still have my legs!" Using the strongest impulse he could he ran like never before. When the edge came, he jumped using all the pent up force of his energy. The floor, like before, cracked at his feet's pressure when he soared ever higher, five, ten, fifteen meters from the building's top. The floor disappeared beneath his feet and the abyss under him was enough to freeze his blood. But his speed was more than enough to pass him to the second tower. Safely, he landed on the exact place Ley'd landed before himself.

"Who are you calling a burden, bitch?" asked Lass, grinning at his seemingly impossible feat.

Ley simply turned away.

"This was only one building. Now can you do this?"

She ran off again, and this time there was no third tower to hold her jump: she fell from the WTC2 after jumping, to land catastrophically on the roof of another building. The roof held her fall, but at a price. It not only cracked, but was smashed upwards, creating many spears of rock and metal structure. He heard the noise from up there, probably ninety feet from her.

"Can you?" she yelled from there.

Lass shook his head to recover himself from amusement and said:

"Of course I fucking CAN!" he screamed out the last word at the same time he ran off and jumped again. The abyss opened under his feet again, but this time he was not afraid. He felt an incredible adrenaline surge, and there in the open air he felt for the first time the joy of a real Soulcrafter to fly without restraint, with no chains. The great sky was above his head, the immense height under his legs, and the Angel lying on his back was not only light but weightless. And, to top it off, behind the three-dimensional fabric of the world around him, Lass heard the song he'd heard in the String, and the stream of energy, even though not immeasurable as before, could still be felt. Knowing instinctively what to do, Lass shaped his energy like a shield underneath his feet and, when he landed, he only felt a moderate deduction of his vigor when the stone broke around him, lifting a cloud of dust into the air.

He walked off the dust and found Ley, looking pleased at him.

"You are in love with her, aren't you?" she asked. The wind, blowing her slightly wavy hair, made Lass realize that the demon girl was, also, very gorgeous. Smiling sincerely like now she was actually quite adorable.

"I'm not sure", he answered. "But I would never leave a friend behind if I could help it in any way."

He turned and looked at the height he'd just fell from.

"Up there, when I was airborne, she was simply weightless. Like there was an angel on my shoulder, there and not there. If it's just carrying like this", he concluded, facing his guide. "I can do it from here to anywhere. Back to the Old World, if I have to."

Ley covered her mouth with her hands and muffled a laugh. Lass controlled himself so as not to blush at what he'd just said.

"What?" he asked.

"I already heard that before", answered Ley. "Maybe you're not that bad after all, bleach-head."

Ley turned and ran from him once more, and the demon was left reflecting on what the hell could she mean.

TWO – **The Chase's Fate**

Mari's head stopped spinning about ten minutes after Arme helped her finish her fight against the red wyvern-like things. She was able to stand on her feet, appreciating that, thanks to her intense training with the WDW, there wasn't a single deep cut on her body. There were some cuts in her suit and skin beneath, but those were blows she couldn't completely avoid. She opened her grimoire and located a healing spell she recognized as useful (she'd already seen healing spells which were _really_ specific, like one who could only heal bones that were broken by wooden swords at night), using it after to close the cuts and stop her bleeding. It made her slightly tired, and she noticed just how much firing the Eraser had wasted her. If she hadn't improved a single bit since the first time she tried using the energy cannon, she'd still be unconscious.

_Lire_, focused Mari. _Have to find Lire._

Instantly, she looked at the Mineral Section, noticing she was the only one left in there, besides the unconscious Elena. The Saturnite had stopped its shining imprinting, and now was resting peacefully on the polished stone, forgotten by both allies and enemies. Mari walked that way and noticed the stone was now as red as the walls on that apartment in Chinatown. That meant the stone was connected to Elena, and her alone. _How can we make a POV Link with a wasted stone?_ Maybe Arianne had an answer. Now Mari stopped to think about it, apparently there were a lot of answers Arianne had not told them. Important answers. Answers that needed to be told, that was for sure.

Worried, Mari kneeled down besides Elena and took her by the shoulders.

"Elena", she called, shaking her friend weakly. "Come on, I know you can wake up."

Elena opened her eyes. Oblivious they seemed to Mari, as if she'd missed something.

"Mari…" she mumbled. A terrified expression crossed her face. "The Saturnite!"

Elena tried to get up, but Mari stopped her.

"Forget it. It's over. The nugget's imprinted on you. Now there's no return."

Elena cursed loudly.

"How did I let this happen", she complained, regretfully. "I was managing to keep them off, but suddenly they started grabbing me and I couldn't do anything."

Mari released Elena and, this time, she stood up.

"The big orc said they'd come for Lire, didn't he?"

"Yes", confirmed Mari. "All the way from the All-World."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know, I was out until just a minute ago. Arme was here. I sent her on Lire's track."

"Arme?" Elena appeared a bit more relieved. "That's good. If one of us can track the other down, that's Arme."

"And Lass", intervened Mari. "I wonder where he is. Haven't seen him ever since the first raid. Sieg is also gone. He was fighting the big orc."

Elena cursed again.

"We have to find him!"

"No!" denied Mari. "We have to find Lire. They'll be all over her."

"And if Arme's with her, she'll also be more effectively protected. Sieg is weaker. If he's losing we have to help him!"

It was Mari's turn to curse. She was starting to lose her temper.

"Sieg is more than capable of defeating orcs" stated Mari. "Arme, on the other hand, even if she is with Lire, can be overthrown by those dragon-things. It's Lire we should worry about."

"Fine!" concluded Elena. "We split. You find Lire and Arme and I'll go help Sieg. We meet in the main entrance of this building."

"The main entrance?" asked Mari, suspicious. "Isn't that a little risky?"

Elena gave her a side look.

"You don't really think no one's noticed us after we brought half the place down, do you? After all, those orcs and dragons came in putting everyone they found parallel to the ground. The security is probably mostly, if not all, dead."

_She's got a point_, reasoned Mari.

"Fine, front entrance it is. Now go!" she said, running off to where Arme'd gone. Elena went the other way, to the place Sieghart was fighting before.

Mari, now in a marble corridor, ran along it, trying to find any useful hints that may lead her out of the building. She was looking down a sideway when something came to her mind. Back at the Island, one of the spells on her grimoire had showed quite the curious effect. Considering her current situation of aiming to leave the building, Mari decided just how she'd do it. Running her own steps back, she returned to the Mineral Section and looked up to the place where once stood the glass dome above the hall. The dome was now shattered on the floor around her, and there was an open space above her head, and above it the enormous fireball created by their enemies. Mari consulted her memory concerning the spell and, using her energy, started chanting the words she'd found written on the grimoire. When she was finished, there was a small and (in her humble opinion) cute blue jetpack attached to the back of her suit. It was limited, as it ran on the fuel of her energy, but it allowed her to jump higher and further than any of her comrades, including Arme. Mari jumped and, automatically, the device activated, consuming an almost imperceptible unit of energy to blast her from the marble floor and through the hole of the dome. She landed gracefully on the roof of the building, and the jetpack stopped wasting her energy. It could be left there for as long as she wanted it to, because it required no energy to be maintained. That was one useful piece of machinery.

A high scream pierced Mari's ears when a red wyvern saw her and warned its allies. The first wyvern flew towards Mari, and it was followed by roughly fifteen others. Their mouths open and screaming at the same time made Mari's enhanced hearing face their own private hell. She prepared to fight, making her muscles more accurate and fast with her energy, but that was not necessary, since a white sphere of energy flew beside her head and hit the first dragon full on the face. Immediately it began to burst in ice spikes, and Mari recognized the spell Moon Force, a middle-tier concentrated ice spell that could temporarily freeze anything it hit. It was usually not deadly, since the ice would shatter after some time, leaving alive, yet damaged, whatever was inside. But from that height, there was no need to say it would be fatal. The wyverns, flying together, had no chance to escape the growth of the ice shell. It enveloped them all and fell from the building, shattering on the ground and breaking the wyverns along with it. Mari turned around, already expecting to see the only one in the group who had mastered that spell.

"Ronan!" she exclaimed.

And there he was, standing with his arm stretched towards her. Besides him, much to Mari's relief, was Lire.

"Where did you come from?" asked Ronan. "I was about to shoot the bastard, and suddenly you come up from inside the place, right between me and the target! I could have hit you!"

"Calm down", intervened Lire. "She's fine. Besides, it was better this way. You hit more of them rather than only one."

Mari ignored Ronan's complaints and hurried to Lire.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I had to run from the Mineral Section", explained Lire. "They started trying to get a hold of me, I couldn't do anything. Sorry I had to leave you behind."

"That's not the issue", retorted Lire. "I sent Arme after you. They're here for you, Lire, you heard it! How could you run alone like that?"

"Here for you?" asked Ronan, looking at Lire. "What are you talking about, Mari?"

"What?" Mari was not believing Lire'd not told Ronan of her situation. "You did _not_ tell him? What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking of you!" screamed Lire. "If they're after me, I'd be bringing them to you if I just stood there. To anyone!"

"But now you're walking with Ronan", replied Mari, raising her voice as well. "That's stupidity! If they came here for you, it's you we have to protect! All of us!"

"You are right", echoed a voice inside Mari's head. "It is her you have to protect. That is your fate."

Mari, Ronan and Lire immediately turned to the front of the building and saw, petrified, the enormous Red Gorgos waving its wings and floating in front of them, its black eyes focused on the three Chasers.

"A Circle is to protect the Creator. The twelve Kings, the representatives of each essential element of existence, are the chosen to guide and serve the Creator. That is the Fate that was put on you, chasers. You are the twelve guardians of the last First Born."

THREE – **Mari Brautigan vs. The Red Gorgos**

Mari made her decision the moment she saw the massive red dragon, and the certainty came after the creature's speech. If she was some kind of guardian, that was exactly the attitude expected from her.

"Get Lire out of here, Ronan", said Mari, gripping the grimoire firmly. "That thing will not leave this rooftop."

Ronan reacted just as she'd predicted.

"What? You want to stay alone? Look at the size of that thing! You really think you can beat it?"

"And", intercepted Lire. "What do you mean by 'get Lire out of here'?"

"If I'm meant to protect you", answered Mari. "That's what I'll do. Besides, I wanted to do this anyway."

"You're insane!" screamed Ronan. "Let me help you, at least."

"No! If this guy's the leader of our enemies, you are safe anywhere but close to him. Get out of here!"

Ronan seemed divided between saving Lire and staying to fight. Noticing his hesitance, Mari turned to him and screamed:

"Do you want Lire to die? GO!"

That woke him up. He grabbed the blonde girl's arm and, turning a deaf ear at her complaints, he said to Mari before leaving:

"Don't take too long."

Ronan took Lire on his arms and jumped in the hole Mari'd just left from. She turned to the dragon. It was only the two of them now.

"Your bravery is admirable", said the Red Gorgos.

"Leave the flattery for when you're begging for your life", retorted Mari.

The Gorgos' laughter sounded in Mari's head. The dragon's throat emitted a grunting sound.

"Beg for my life?" he asked. "Your friends were afraid of me. Now, you're alone. It is pity. Your quest has only just begun, and your Circle will already be void of a Queen."

"Queen?" asked Mari back. "Well, I don't care the slightest about that. Lire and Ronan are my friends. I'll put you on your knees, so you won't hurt them!"

Mari opened the grimoire and summoned the WDW. Now armed with them, she sprinted towards the Gorgos and started the confrontation.

Her first attack was avoided. The Gorgos flew quickly to the left and countered the slash of the WDW with a strike with its tail. It was not sharp or full of thorns, but heavy and hard as steel. Mari felt it when it hit her chest. Her bones, reinforced with flowing energy, didn't break, but it hurt nonetheless. After a short flight, she landed on her feet and attacked again, this time with a horizontal move of the right hand, which was followed by all four floating knives. The Gorgos held the knives with its claw-like front leg and attacked with its tail again, this time downwards. Mari blocked the smashing blow with the grimoire, but it was still strong enough to make her fall to her knees and create cracks on the roof beneath her. The Gorgos backed off and said:

"Who is on their knees now, guardian? You should know pride proceeds perish."

"And you should know", answered Mari. "Never to block a blade with your bare hands."

The Gorgos seemed startled by that affirmation and raised his claw to check for anything. Finding nothing, he raised his gaze and was about to ask what she'd meant when he realized he'd just been played with. Mari was already in front of him, her book opened right at his face.

"BUSTER!"

The energy impact threw the Gorgos off the roof, just as Mari'd predicted. If she kept fighting there, sooner or later the roof would crack and sent her into the building. Closed walls around her, she was certainly going to be defeated. Her only small hopes laid on an open battlefield. The Gorgos fell catastrophically on the trees, bringing down many of them, and Mari jumped from the building, landing a few meters from the fallen dragon.

"I'll give you a clue to when you're fighting me, Gorgos", taunted Mari. "Never believe a word I say."

The Gorgos flew again and landed on his feet right in front of her. Now he was angry.

"You pathetic little thing", he cursed. "It will be fun to see you ravished by my minions after I take that book off your hands."

"Hah. Let's see what you have except for that big body, you overgrown dragonfly", she taunted, feeling something swirling in her subconscious. It felt like curiosity. "Let the test begin."

The Gorgos screamed and took off, flying incredibly fast towards her. She tried to avoid him by jumping sideways to her left, but he stretched his right hand and opened a fairly deep cut right under her lungs. Mari let out an exclamation of pain and jumped backwards, trying to get some distance between her and the dragon. She was already expecting him to turn in point and slash her again, but he didn't. Instead, the Gorgos took off again and turned in the air. That gave Mari a little time window in which to put herself out of the monster's reach. When he turned to her, though, there was a spell circle around its long neck, and this time the dragon's voice came not from the mind, but from the throat, when it screamed:

"GOROG FLAME!"

_As it would be expected from a dragon, _Mari thought. _Huge size, a _lot_ of energy, massive durability and the freaking thing spits fire!_ What happened was not exactly that. The fire that erupted from the spell was in the form of many small spheres. Mari didn't even try to avoid them. They pushed her back like bullets, at first burning her suit and after her skin. Mari noticed, sadly, how in a single night she'd been cut, broke and burned more than in all of her life. Nevertheless, she still managed to land on her feet. Or rather, on her knees.

"You see now why has your sacrifice been so useless, guardian?" asked the Gorgos, taking with his mind again. "You can't even hurt me. You are on your knees for the second time, hurt, burned, tired and hopeless, while I stand unscathed, untouched. Give up on your hopes, and burn to death! GOROG INFERNO!"

This second spell came as a single torrent of fire. Mari, on her knees, didn't have time to avoid it. The flames engulfed her damaged body, making the heat around her almost unbearable. The only reason she didn't die right there was a defense mechanism she'd created with one of the grimoire's most lifesaver spells: an inertial barrier of energy that could negate the effect of elemental magic within its radius. It could not stop the heat from reaching her, but it was being enough to keep the flames from roasting her flesh to death. When the Gorgos finally stopped the fire column, the look in its dark eyes was priceless. Pure surprise.

"Survived? How…" it mumbled, immediately after regaining its composure. "It doesn't matter. You won't survive another one! GOROG FLAME!"

Mari was now standing, and a second wave of fireballs came. Much to the Gorgos' bewilderment, none of the balls land a single hit. He stopped the spell quickly and asked:

"I missed? How could I?"

He didn't expect for an answer, but Mari gave one:

"It is as I thought", she whispered. "They do follow a pattern."

"What are you talking about?"

"The grimoire has a lot of information, Gorgos", explained Mari. She opened the mentioned book; somewhat like a hologram, a square of letters appeared before its pages and started reading. "Gorog Flame: mid-tier fire incantation meant to fire multiple projectiles of fire upon moving or static targets. Pattern changes from the individual."

She closed the grimoire and looked at the Red Gorgos. It was standing, charmed by her words.

"Don't underestimate my memory, Gorgos. Your Gorog Flame follows a standard fire rate and position. Seeing it once was more than enough for me to identify that standard. Once you see it, it's quite easy to avoid the hits."

"But… you've only seen it once!" admired the Gorgos. "How can you have seen through it?"

"The perfect memory can come in handy. You'd better start taking this seriously, lizard, 'cause I'll entertain you for a while longer."

FOUR – **Perfect Memory at Full Power**

Mari's fight with the Red Gorgos was now growing faster and angrier. The human was obviously losing: each time the Gorgos used a new move, she'd have no chance to completely avoid it. She imagined before that someone, any ally of hers, could show up and help her, but that was apparently not going to happen. She was already tired before commencing the showdown, and now, even though still standing and keeping the fight up, Mari was drawing dangerously close to exhaustion, to the point she had to cancel the WDW so as to not decline too quickly. The only things keeping her up were: a) the fact that she was positive of victory, as the more the Gorgos fought her, the closer _he_ was getting to breaking point and Mari knew that, but the Gorgos didn't; and b) she wanted to learn more about that creature. Much more. Her curiosity, she noticed, was starting to get the best of her. She just couldn't stop.

So he attacked without mercy, thinking only of crushing that little girl who hit his face hard enough to hurt even through his thick and hard skin. He dashed in the air towards her, and performed a vertical spin, to hit her with his heavy tail. She avoided it and, when he turned to hit her again, she ducked and avoided the second hit as well. The Gorgos attempted a third blow, using the inertia of his turn to draw an arc with his claw, intended to split the girl in half. She, once again, avoided the blow with almost subconscious grace. He looked at her, angry, and noticed she had her palm shown to him. A stop gesture. Without knowing exactly why, the Gorgos stopped.

"We're finally here, huh", she said. "The point where I turn the table on you."

"Nothing seems to have changed from where I see", pointed out the Gorgos. "You are still exhausted, and I still stand and strike relentlessly. What's the point of keeping up this fight?"

"Well, you can keep trying to squash me, but I warn you that I'll counter as of now."

"Try it, scum!" exclaimed the Gorgos, launching another massive attack on her. The first three blows she easily dodged and when, angry to the out-of-his-mind point, the Gorgos attacked with his tail. Instead of avoiding, Mari jumped sideways and grabbed his tail. The Gorgos, angrier rather than surprised, shook her off with a violent swing. Unfortunately, upwards. He noticed that, if he'd smashed her to the ground, the battle would be over. Thrown into the air, the guardian simply landed on her feet. Before attacking again, the Gorgos heard her mutter a single sound.

"Kaboom."

A spiral of blinding pain climbed the Gorgos from his tail, reaching his head and erasing all thoughts. Remotely, he noticed he was being hit by a powerful electric current, strong enough to stun even a massive creature such as himself. The current continued for some seconds, and after that something exploded fiercely behind him, launching him forwards through the air. He stopped when his face met a tree, and the Red Gorgos painfully rolled on the earth along with the branches. When he got up again, still feeling the bite of numbness from the electric shock, he noticed the heavy bone sphere of his tail was gone, and he was bleeding dangerously from what was left of it. He looked, mad with anger, at the human, who was looking back at him. The way she stared at him suggested cold analysis.

"What have you done?" asked the Gorgos, in a low and dangerous voice.

"I didn't take a hit from your tail for nothing. That was an electric grenade, something I can create with a little help from this", she raised the grimoire. "Now you're one weapon down. What will come next, little salamander?"

The Gorgos screamed beastly and flew to her, trying desperately to hit her with any of his deadly claws. She avoided all the hits and, to top the feat, started counting while dodging:

"One, two, three… one, two, three… One, two and…" The Gorgos raised his left arm to slash again. "Here!"

She landed a powerful kick right under his arm. It wasn't enough to move him, but the pain from being hit where his shell was particularly weak stopped him for a second. In this second, Mari drew out another technological weapon.

"Protection field, set", she Commanded.

The long, curve piece of metal appeared and split in two. One went to the floor, while the other floated about six feet from the ground. The Gorgos, recovered from his sudden stop, attacked with his head, trying to bite her. She made another Commandment.

"Activate."

The electric current of the device pierced the air, opening a volt arc right through the Gorgos' red head. He screamed in pain and backed off. _Another electrical attack?_ he wondered, feeling burns under the thick hide. The arc had almost made a hole through his head. When he focused the surprisingly dangerous girl again, there was another device aimed at him. He only had the time to notice it was a cannon before if fired with a loud _boom_. He dived sideways in an attempt to avoid it. Bad move. The cannon bullet was infused with energy. It pierced his magical shields like it would pierce a sheet of paper and, instead of hitting his chest, where his hide was thickest, the shot landed on the second joint of his bat-like wings. The impact was almost strong enough to sever the wing's last two feet off, and the pain surge was enough to put the Gorgos down on his knees.

Mari dismantled the cannon, reabsorbing the energy used to mount it. That was good, since it recovered her, even though slightly, from her exhaustion. She walked towards the Gorgos, whose red hide was shining under the fireball on the sky. She wondered, ironically, what time was it. Focusing back on the enemy ahead, Mari said:

"Now it's you who is on their knees", she taunted.

"How…", grunted the Gorgos. "Just a while ago you couldn't even avoid my blows, and now you seem even faster than before."

"Don't underestimate my memory", repeated Mari. "Seeing once is enough for me to memorize all your moves. Now, you have nothing I can't see through. You can't surprise me."

The Gorgos, surprisingly, laughed again.

"Nothing you can't see through?" he asked, between laughs. "Did you really think you'd come as far as to see all my moves?"

He got up, standing on his full height of more than three meters.

"The surprises are only beginning, naïve guardian."

FIVE – **No Mercy!**

Mari felt her confidence waver. The Gorgos was still standing, and all evidence checked that he still had some tricks up his sleeve. Luckily, she had too.

Mari withdrew the grimoire back into its joker. The Gorgos seemed rather amused.

"Giving up after I survived your little schemes?" he asked, arrogantly. "Lost the will to protect your friends?"

"You said it, lizard", responded Mari. "The surprises are just beginning."

The Gorgos slashed his right claw-hand and Mari avoided the cut by jumping on the claw. Using the kinetic energy of the dragon's muscles, she jumped back to the top of the building behind them (the wall of the building was sorely damaged by both the Gorgos and herself) and started chanting.

"_Hand of Thor, I chant on thy might. Smash all reality, by sheer force._"

This time, a heavy mallet took form on her extended hand, and she took it, feeling the vibration of the power within the weapon. She'd never imagined she could use the grimoire to summon even more powerful items, but she would later find out many incantations to shape swords, hammers and even guns. The weapon she deemed necessary to finish the job was a magic mallet. It had the capacity to be empowered by infused energy, and was also capable of ignoring magic barriers while in enhanced state. The perfect weapon to make way for her final blow.

"The Mallet Mjölnir", identified the Red Gorgos. "For you to be capable of calling out such a weapon… I underestimated you, Queen. You really are a member of the long foretold Grand Chase, the follower of the Midlight Caste."

Mari didn't answer, in return simply jumping from the roof and falling with the mallet ready to break open the dragon's skull. He avoided the drop and the mallet hit the earth. The impact was strong enough to smash the ground and open a crater around her. The Gorgos looked, afraid, at the heavy impact. Mari pointed the mallet to him.

"One hit from this, and even you are out", she stated. "Show me your surprises now, little Gorgos."

"As you wish!" roared the dragon, raising its head, along with its energy, to the full power. Mari felt a shiver run down her spine when she sensed the immense pressure of the Red Gorgos' soul. It chanted with its mind.

"_Ku, kutref, kuretef! Ultez-hevok, niak zu asch biehr!"_

A spell circle appeared, not around his neck but right after his fearsome mouth. He opened it, and activated the spell.

"GOROG SUPERNOVA!"

The flames that came from the Gorgos' mouth were not normal. They were black, hungry and apparently unstoppable, fired on a massive torrent, which was greatly enhanced by the spell circle. Mari, ready, summoned most of her leftover power to create a spell to counter the Gorgos' fire. Spinning in place, she muttered:

"_From the dead plains of Ice, the heartless frostbite, breath of eternity_. Extinction!"

A wave of icy wind erupted from the spell circle summoned by Mari. The fire collided with the ice, and for a moment their power was even. But the Gorgos was a dragon, big and full of energy. He was hurt, angry and humiliated, yes, but still more powerful than the hindered woman, who not only was fighting for her life for the last two hours, but was also wounded and weakened. The black flames overcame the icy wave and hurled towards Mari. But, even in that desperate time, her plan continued.

The second her spell was terminated, the ice exploded all around. The very column of fire was frozen by the might of the frost wave and the Gorgos stepped back to avoid being frozen himself. Taking her chance, Mari ran to the dragon, using the mallet's alternate form, which had two propellers on one side of the head, and channeling her energy to the weapon. It greatly grew in size and weight, and Mari commanded it to unleash the energy while swinging it like a golf club.

"NO MERCY!"

The impact broke the Gorgos' defenses definitively, and it shattered around him like broken glass. The mallet hit the dragon's chin, launching him upwards with an ignorant force. With all his defenses down, the Gorgos felt fear grip his heart. And he had a reason. Mari jumped after him, now holding the grimoire again. She opened it right at his face, and the written letters glowed stronger and more energetic than ever before, when Mari pushed her own strength through the tome, to deliver her final blow.

"MAXIMUM BUSTER!"

The impact of the Buster spell was increased five, tenfold, or even more. The blast force broke the dragon's jaw and cracked his skull, launching him backwards against the building's wall. It came down behind him and he was pushed into the structure, head first, breaking the concrete like a wrecking ball. After breaking through almost ten feet of solid stone, the Gorgos stopped.

Mari, strained to the last extents of her power, placed her hands on the knees, breathing heavily and feeling like she'd just got ran over by a train. Her arms hurt, her chest hurt, her head was feeling like a bell inside her brain and her legs were just about to give in and drop her. If the Gorgos still had any fight in him, she'd be forced to quit the match and attempt a probably unsuccessful escape. Fortunately for her, when the Gorgos walked out of the concrete dust cloud, he seemed completely worn-out. His steps were heavy and unbalanced, and two times he was forced to his knees by the weakness of his body. He walked wobbly towards her, his voice saying in her head:

"The Chasers' power is… indeed beyond my imagination. I am no match…"

He extended his wings, one of them strangely angled and broken, and warned her:

"This is over for now, Queen. If you survive this night, we will meet again sooner or later. By then, I shall be more than enough to bring your existence to an end."

"Stop!" screamed Mari, but the Gorgos took off. A dimensional rift opened behind him and he crossed into whatever other world there was on the other side, leaving the exhausted Chaser alone on the Grand Museum of Anthropology.

But not for long. A shadowy figure, almost invisible in the night, observed from under the trees. Many miles from Jacksonville, Arianne Lothos, The Knight Master, left her stationary, wearing full armor and carrying, on her waist, the legendary Sword of the Enemy, which some believed to not even exist. Her shadow seemed darker than that of those she passed by, unaware of the fact that they were crossing paths with one of the strongest warriors in the Omniverse, and soon she left the city, running silently, faster than the wind, towards the East. Towards the Grand Museum of Anthropology.

SIX – **The Chase cornered**

Mari fell on the grass, sweating and panting. She opened her arms and legs and focused on the multiple spots of pain across her anatomy. Cuts, burns and bruises, not to mention the muscle pain from using them at full excessively. She laid there, looking at the fireball on the sky, and, having nothing to do, initiated some thinking. The fireball was still there, but the dragon called the Red Gorgos was not. That meant he was not the one feeding it with energy, since trying to use a spell separated by the Strings from it was enough to kill even for trying. There was still a powerful enemy in that museum, and she was in no shape of engaging even a human at the time. There were other eleven Chasers, though. Ronan and Lire were together. Arme, Victor and Ryan too. Elena had run off from in the Mineral Section, after Sieghart. She had no idea where Jin, Sieghart, Amy, Elesis or Lass were. That was not good.

Sieghart had gone off fighting the orc leader, and at this point was either victorious or dead. Lass was probably fine, since he was very strong. Same went to Jin, who probably was after Amy, if not with her. Elesis was Mari's greatest worry, not only because she was so weak, but also because she was Mari's best friend. She wanted to look for them, but her arms and legs refused to get her up. The girl simply laid there, looking up, for a timeless while, when she heard the ground resonating with footsteps. Three people. With some effort, Mari got her head up and looked. Ronan, Lire and Jin were running towards her. Ronan and Lire were slightly hurt and Jin was, surprisingly, unscathed. Apparently, she had underestimated the Fighter's power.

"Mari!" called Lire. She kneeled down beside Mari, like Arme'd done before. "You're alive."

"Biologically speaking", she answered. "Where are the others?"

"Don't worry", said Ronan. "We came to get you. We're getting the hell out of here. Where is the Gorgos?"

"Gone. He left after I beat him. Through a dimensional rift."

The three Chasers seemed rather amazed by Mari's declaration of defeating the immense Red Gorgos by herself.

"Wow", muttered Ronan. "I really didn't see that coming. You're better than I thought, Mari."

Jin kneeled down too and took Mari on his back. When he started walking with her towards the main entrance of the building, she asked:

"You've already…" she stopped to breathe. "Found everyone?"

"We haven't find Sieg, Ellie and Lass" answered Jin. "The rest is waiting on the front of the building. We'll leave you with them and search for the rest."

"Only the three of you?" asked Mari, worried.

"I'm not going", explained Lire. "Since they're after me, I'd better stay with the likes of Arme. These two", she indicated Ronan and Jin. "Are going. I think Amy and Victor too."

Mari relaxed.

"That's good. We really have no leads to Ellie, Lass or Sieg?"

"None. Sieg can sometimes be heard across the place, when something blows up, but Ellie and Lass are simply off the place. Ronan managed to discover they left the Section together, but then their track simply disappears. It's like they crossed a dimension on that exact place."

Mari remembered the Gorgos crossing a black hole in the Fabric of Truth, the membrane that separates the realities from the Void outside.

"That is not impossible. I noticed when I was fighting the Gorgos: the Fabric is much weaker here than outside. It barely takes any energy to open it. Dimensional rifts usually cost a lot of power, but in here, it's much easier. This place was a setup", concluded her. "They knew we'd come here, and prepared the place."

They walked quietly besides the wall, and turned when it ended. Mari saw the other Chasers together next to a fountain, which was smashed and reduced to rubble. They seemed tired but, overall, okay.

"It's them", said Amy's voice. "They have Mari!"

"So she actually took the dragon down?" retorted Victor's voice. "Crazy bitch. I didn't see her growing so strong."

"I can hear you now", said Mari, when they got near the group.

"Well", said Victor. "You should worry about Jin, who is obviously enjoying the fact that he has your mighty fine breasts pressing his back."

Jin put her down.

"I'm not going to fight you now", he said to Victor. "Because we're already too deep in the shit. If I run into something really big, I'll need my strength."

"You can't, that's why", grunted Victor. He turned to the rest of the group and said: "Alright, it's now. We must search for Ellie, Lass and Sieghart. I'll look into this building", he indicated the building at their back. "Jin takes the one to the left and Ronan the other one, close to the gate. Amy will take the one with the huge ball on it."

"That's an Earth globe, you dumbfuck", cursed Jin.

"That's my testicle" corrected Victor. "The left one. The right is a little bigger. Wanna take a look?"

Jin simply walked away, and said:

"Gather here for another briefing if you don't find anything. I'll take my leave."

He ran off, but didn't go too far. Something appeared out of the trees and pushed him back to the fountain with incredible strength. When the pusher landed, they saw he was a human-sized figure, formerly wearing cape and hood, but now rid of them. He was now wearing black clothes, rather common ones, actually: boots, pants and a long sleeved shirt. When he walked under the light of the giant fireball in the sky, the Chasers were startled. His face was exactly the same as Lass'. Silvery white hair, blue eyes, pale skin, sharp chin and a straight and controlled look.

"Is that Lass?" asked Elena.

"You are not going anywhere, Grand Chase", answered the man. "I am Gardosen. Since your follower of Midlight took out my Gorog, I will personally crush you."

SEVEN – **Sieghart Halberd vs. Orc Lord**

Sieghart's Champion's Call and the Orc Lord's massive hammer met again, in even match. The two jumped back, opening a safe distance between them. Sieghart cleaned the blood running from his nose, broken by an orc he had killed about ten minutes ago, and took his breath to attack once more. The Orc Lord also looked tired. They were now fighting for more than half an hour, and the two smaller orcs that accompanied the Lord had fallen a long time ago. The giant Orc and the guardian, however, were apparently just as tough as one another. During their fight, the two had already left the Mineral Section and crossed half the museum, crushing a lot of things in their path, and were now on the garden of the Administration building, whose back wall was now in ruins behind the Orc, after he hit it with his hammer. The Champion's Call had already opened many deep fends on the ground and the building. The Grand Museum of Anthropology was slowly walking into ruin.

"I din' expect you to be so… resilient", stated the Orc.

"I didn't expect you to be so fast", retorted Sieghart. "Looks like we're even."

"Heh", laughed the giant. "One of us is boun' to go down, boy. And I ain't goin' down in this pitiful place, some fuckin' place in the Ol' World", he spat on the floor. "World of the forgotten. Of humans an'… an' Hunters!"

"Hunters?" asked the man. "What the hell is that?"

"Fuck you", answered the Lord. "I owe ye no explanations. Let us fight!"

He smashed Sieghart with his hammer, which he held with his left hand. The right hand slashed forward, and the Champion's Call opened a cut on the Orc's green skin. Its blood, smelling sour as usual, left the wound, and it roared to the night, raising the hammer and lowering it again, this time even stronger. Sieghart jumped sideways, not wanting to wear his hand off by holding the blow, and retorted with an air roundhouse, hitting the Orc's large belly with the strength of a car. It didn't fall, though, instead regaining its posture and punching Sieghart on the face, making him fall to the land and be subject to a power kick from the Orc, throwing him many meters across the place. Sieghart landed next to the Derther Building, one dedicated to the ancient forms of art, and the Lord jumped after him, raising its hammer to deliver a devastating blow. Sieghart rolled sideways and got up with a jump, avoiding the hammer's shock, which hit the concrete. It cracked upwards, throwing many debris at the guardian. Sieghart, who was actually used to people throwing rocks at him, simply ignored this and turned in place, charging the Champion's Call with his energy to unleash all of his fury in a single, mad strike. He drove the sword into the ground and it opened not only a hole, but a large crack, filled with purple-glowing energy. He drove it forwards, and the wave cracked the concrete, hitting the Orc where he stood after smiting the place where Sieghart had fallen.

Despite its apparently upwards nature, the wave seemed to hit the orc from the front, launching it backwards instead of up. The flames engulfed the creature, making it scream again. Sieghart, only slightly tired, ran after his enemy, determined to finish the battle with that move. He jumped on the still airborne orc, and using his legs pushed it against the floor. The green warrior's enormous body divided the earth, and Sieghart landed about two meters ahead of it. Giving the orc no time to breath, he turned in place and punched it with all his might. To his surprise, the punch met resistance. The Orc Lord had raised its massive fist, and was now holding Sieghart's without budging a single millimeter.

"Nice show", said the orc. "You must be Sieghart, follower of the Immortal Caste, ain't it?"

Sieghart backed off.

"How do you know that?" he decided to ignore the creature calling him follower of whatever he'd said.

The orc got up, taking advantage of Sieghart's hesitation, and answered:

"Someone told me yer' flames would be like this. Too bad, they ain't nearly hot enough to burn through me skin, are they?"

"We'll see", said Sieghart, igniting the Champion's Call with his purple flames. Those flames were a power he discovered about one week before going in that unlucky mission. He'd always been slow at catching up to the others' development, but his own was amazingly boosted when, in a moment of complete anger (he was out of his mind for not being capable of landing a single hit on Arianne with his sword), he used his soul in a new way, one he'd always been avoiding, despite his fierce nature: complete destruction. He'd rushed towards his master, his blade dancing with purple flames, and nothing but murderous intent in his eyes. He managed to land a strike at his master that time (and got rewarded with a full twenty attacks from her) and all it required for him to call out this strange power now was to remember that fight. Arianne had explained that those flames were a power that was only his, but nothing more. Nothing about its nature or its capabilities. She didn't even tell him why the other Chasers could not use them. But they had helped him more than once in that fight with the Orc Lord, and he was making good use of it, whatever it was.

It was the orc's turn to attack, when it used its massive hammer to smite Sieghart. He blocked the hammer, and held it above himself with both his hands on the sword's hilt. The flames on it started making his hands, as well as the hammer, unbearably hot. The Orc Lord, apparently fearing any damage to his hammer by the heat, pulled the weapon away from Sieghart. He attacked, convinced that his flames would melt the creature's skin. The blade, though, only open another small cut. It burned for a while, before the Orc placed its hand on the cut and suppressed the flame.

"Too weak", it said. "You ain't close to burnin' me!"

Sieghart tried again, but this time was not so lucky. The Orc used an arched move to hit the guardian's left shoulder with its hammer. The bone did not break, but it did hurt very bad. Sieghart felt his energy decreasing so that his body could withstand the blow. He attempted a counter strike, only to be repelled again and receive another hammer blow, this time to the chest. This strike made him momentarily inactive with pain, and subject to a third blow, this one charged with energy. It sent the man flying straight into the wall behind him. He smashed straight through it, ending up inside a cave-like section, probably dedicated to primeval art. The flames on his blade were extinguished: he had focused all of his power to not break along with the wall when hitting it. Sieghart, angered, didn't give the Orc Lord any time to go after him; he immediately got back on his feet and jumped off the hole made by himself on the wall. Landing in front of his adversary, Sieghart ignited his sword again, his mind set only on defeating the green giant. His anger, though, did not help him. I fact, it only hindered his performance.

The more the fight went on, the more it became clear the superiority in strength of the Orc Lord. Sieghart's fury only made him blind to some things he, if calm, would have easily seen, and take damage from stupid and almost obvious approaches. The fight, formerly an even match, was now turning into a one-way combat, with Sieghart trying to hit the orc and the creature countering the guardian's sword strikes with merciless force, quickly bringing his hammer to victory over the blade called Champion's Call. After about ten minutes of fierce exchanging of aggressions, the final blow came, with the Orc Lord smiting the guardian to the ground more than ten times repeatedly with its hammer, leaving him wounded and broken inside an enormous crater on the stone. He was still standing, but completely wasted, bleeding from the mouth, nose and some cuts and evaluating his broken bones in roughly eleven, his jaw among them. Unlike Lass, Sieghart did not have auto-heal. The Orc Lord, though, seemed to have, since the few wounds Sieghart'd inflicted on it were now gone. He was, if not completely whole, at least mostly in one piece.

"Why can't I hurt him…" grunted Sieghart.

"You have", granted the Orc Lord. "But not enough, _King"_, he said the word in a mocking tone. "...not enough at all. Yer power is frail, and yer flames're like a warm breeze to me."

"Why can't I burn him…" continued Sieghart. His fury growing inside him, boiling up in his mind like rising magma. He was about to make something really stupid, but the Orc Lord, unwillingly and without noticing it, condemned itself when he said:

"Give it up, fucker. Outta my way, so I can crush yer fellas as well!"

When he heard those words, Sieghart's anger finally reached its absolute peak. He had never, in his whole life, felt anything nearly close to that, not even when every single Corporate joined to play a very well-planned prank on him or when he was forced to fight alone against an entire gang. It was like fire, burning all his thoughts away, leaving only a blind killing intent, a mad rage that, for all he knew, came from the past, from his old self, before he willingly washed everything away…

"IT MAKES ME FUCKING _MAD_!"

EIGHT – **Purple Haze**

Sieghart's mind, behind all the fury, was extremely calm, and his vision was at the same time blurred and clear, seeing through a purple mist that made everything more alive.

He felt his power, his fire, everywhere. All around him. And if he could look at himself from outside, he'd see a purple aura of energy surrounding him, his eyes shining with the same color, and his sword lit in flames stronger than he'd ever summoned, making the stones around him shine, incandescent. The Orc Lord retreated three steps, looking horrified and angry at the same time.

"Highlander Rage?" asked the Orc, to no one, apparently. "How… who da fuck're you?!"

Sieghart didn't even consider answering. It didn't seem necessary. Words at all seemed unnecessary. Even his Champion's Call seemed unnecessary, so he dropped it. The fire dancing on it was gone before it hit the ground.

"Purple fire…" continued the Orc Lord. "So yer not the real thing…"

Sieghart, tired of its nonsense, flexed his legs and jumped towards the creature. Normally, he would be amazed by the force of his jump and the speed he achieved with it, but his mind, right now, was not susceptible to amazement. As such, he was also not amazed by punching the orc in that untold speed, dealing an also untold impact. The orc was thrown along the stones, and Sieghart followed, nearing its enormous body again and kicking it like a football ball, making a loud bang sound and throwing the orc again against the ground. He repeatedly attacked the Orc Lord, blow after blow, breaking it with naught but his fists and feet. When the orc finally managed to avoid one of the blows and stand up, Sieghart stopped and looked at it. A shadow of fear contorted the creature's deformed face. It showed its fangs, yellowish, long and sharp, and said:

"This can't be happening. They din' tell me I were to fight a highlander. You don' even exist in this world!"

Deeming it reasonable to speak, Sieghart said:

"You said my fire was not strong enough to burn you." He raised his right hand. "When I grab you with this hand, I'll roast you like a beef."

"As if you could", provoked the Orc.

It ran towards the guardian and attempted a hammer hit downwards. Instead of holding it, Sieghart avoided the hammer, letting it hit the place he stood before, and countered with a kick. The orc, surprisingly, held the kick and attempted another smash. Sieghart released his leg from the creature's grasp and kicked again, but this time aiming for the heavy weapon coming for his head. His foot erupted in purple fire and the hammer was thrown fiercely from its holder's hands, landing on top of the Art Building, which was now more than twenty meters behind them. The orc was next to fly, hit by Sieghart's fist straight to the chest. It landed many meters away from the human and got up again. It clutched its hands, apparently ready to fight hand-to-hand.

"FUCKER!" roared the Orc Lord. "You were dyin' jus' now! Go and fucking DIE ALREADY!"

The Orc attempted to attack, faster than he'd been doing the whole fight, but through the purple mist in Sieghart's eyes, its movements were slow, as slow as they seemed fast before. When the orc neared him enough, he hit it full on the chin with an uppercut. With a scream, the orc was launched again into the atmosphere, and Sieghart followed, removing the Orc Lord's helmet with a second punch. He grabbed the orc's head with his right hand and dropped from the air, smashing it to the ground beneath. The fire danced around him, and the orc's scream seemed to resonate all around the museum. Not satisfied, Sieghart made his energy erupt from his hand. It came out as the purple fire, much hotter than when he was so desperately trying to ignite it. The inferno consumed the stones and the grass, and Sieghart remotely noticed the burn it caused: not like common fire but a rather devastating effect on all things it hit. Like the grass, the stones and the dirt were not burning, but instead…

_Regressing._

The Orc Lord roared in suffering, all of its physical and magical defenses being laid to waste by the powerful fire, its energy draining to maintain life, rapidly and unstoppable. Sieghart increased the potency of the flames and began spinning his arm. Each time his hand drew an upward move, the purple flames would erupt from him, stronger and higher every time. Finally, when Sieghart's arm was numb with pain from the immense energy output, he unleashed a final spin upwards and released the maximum of his fire. It erupted from his arm more than thirty feet high, and Sieghart released the Orc, which flew along with the flames to the sky. Three seconds later, the creature fell. Motionless. Defeated.

Sieghart was not a merciless man. He had never killed before that night, and even though he'd only killed orcs now, his heart was still shaken by the act of taking lives with swift blade moves. If an enemy was left laying defeated and unarmed at his feet, he was not the kind of man to cold-bloodedly finish off said enemy. But not at that moment. The purple haze was blinding him, working as an anesthesia to his feelings. Sieghart, the consciousness of the man behind the flames, was not in control. He walked calmly to the place where he had left the Champion's Call and picked it up. It immediately got lit in purple fire. When he turned and started walking towards the Orc Lord, its eyes froze with fear. It started crawling away from the guardian. _Increasing its lifespan by some seconds_, thought Sieghart, coldly.

"No", begged the Orc. "Have mercy… You won, already… Let me go…"

Sieghart stopped, standing above the Orc Lord, and raised his sword above the creature's chest, the blade's point still and firm. No hesitation. Sieghart Halberd stood, his eyes shining, a blade engulfed in purple flames in his hands, and spoke with all the authority of a judge straight from Hell.

"Ask your god for mercy", he said. "When you meet him face to face."

That said, the blade fell, piercing the Orc's heart with a conclusive noise, finally putting an end to the creature's lengthy existence. It screamed one last time to the sky and, as if accompanying the thing's voice, the purple fire consumed it from inside to outside, turning its carcass into a crisped, despicable mass. The Orc Lord was gone, burned by the flames of the Purple Highlander, dying in ignorance and desperation, forgotten by all its allies, in a common city of the Old World.

NINE – **Circle and Angle**

"Follower of Midlight?" asked Mari. "You mean me?"

Gardosen looked firmly at her. Mari noticed his eyes were, even though alive, unreadable.

"You may not like it now, but that's who you are. To see the Circle, from inside to outside, and be the core that analyses and decides for it. The Midlight is the keeper of thought. Don't tell me, your master, the all so known Knight Master, never even mentioned that to you?"

"What", asked Jin. "The fuck is a Circle?"

Gardosen's usually composed expression showed a little bit of discouragement.

"She hasn't, I see. Well, since you are about to die, it would not hurt to tell you the roles you were supposed to fill in if you were to live."

"Shut up", spoke Victor. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Gardosen suddenly looked really angry. His face hardened and his voice was almost cutting.

"Quiet, intruder!" he demanded. Victor instantly silenced, as if hit by a Commandment. "Who do you think you are, meddling with the Circle's affairs? Just because you fight alongside them ,that doesn't mean you are one. Just sit and wait your time to die."

Mari looked at Victor, silenced and apparently upset, and back at Gardosen.

"Not one of us? You mean he is not a…"

"A King? A guardian?" asked Gardosen. "A circle is made of curves, follower of Midlight. An angle has no place inside the perfection of the spheres."

"You keep talking in riddles", interrupted Ronan. "Spheres, curves, circles… if you want a fight, then come and take your beating already!"

All of the Chasers around Lire immediately prepared for battle. Even Mari, still very tired from her sole fight earlier, picked up arms to defend the elf girl. Gardosen laughed.

"You must learn not to bite what's too big for your jaw", he said. Faster than even Arme could follow, he vanished and appeared before Ronan, past all of the others, in a fraction of second. "Or the big evil demon is going to rip it off."

Gardosen's invisible speed suppressed all reaction that could come from the Chasers. They all watched as he turned in place and hit Ronan with a devastating back kick, sending him into a collision with Amy. Both of them fell over each other. Ronan got up first, holding his stomach and grunting:

"What's with that crazy speed? I didn't even see you coming…"

"You really don't know who I am…" commented Gardosen. "Back in the All-World, I would never have to actually say my name. Well, I will put up with it. After all, you are all going to die."

In an instant he vanished again, to appear above them. He opened his soul, and the Chasers felt its immense weight. The spell he chanted none of them knew, but they understood the words:

"The limiter removed, the door fallen. The sky falls down, and the Earth lies, stone on cracked stone."

There was no spell circle; only an ominous noise of something of unimaginable size falling from the dark sky above them. Gardosen called the spell, and its fury was unleashed.

"_Moon Caste: Wrist of Gaea!_"

All around the museum, hundreds of feet long pillars of stone fell from the sky. They crushed trees, buildings, some parts of the surrounding wall and some even fell on the streets around the complex. None of them hit the Chasers, but they were terrified by the spell's power. And Gardosen didn't seem even a bit tired from it.

"That will give us roughly five minutes before the whole town starts gathering here. They will call the police, the rescue and whatever they can to help them. It will be tough on you to escape if you don't defeat me in that time", he said, withdrawing a sword from nowhere (it was probably inside a joker). The sword looked almost as mighty and ancient as Arianne's weapon, the Sword of the Enemy. It was abnormally long and seemingly heavy. "What will it be, Grand Chase? Think you can outrun the world?"

TEN – **Grand Chase vs. Gardosen**

Jin was the first to move on to fight the demon. At his back, Arme raised her staff and used one of her most powerful magics:

"Join hands, spirits of flame. Strength on thy hands and unity in thy souls, fall as one!"

She felt the common exhaustion surge from using that spell. Its activation energy, the minimal energy amount required to trigger it, was extremely high. But the effects were also pretty good.

"_Burning Caste: Meteor Rain!_"

That spell was an improved _Meteor Strike_, that fired many meteors, stronger and more destructive than the former's single one. The many meteors soared towards Gardosen, but even before they hit, Arme knew it would not work. First, because she'd held back so as not to hurt Jin, and second because she noticed when Gardosen strengthened his own magical palisade. If the Red Gorgos' barrier was a common wall, the demon's one was the Great Wall of China. Unbreakable. Jin avoided the meteors, as she'd foreseen, only so that they could hit Gardosen's immense defensive wall and explode. It was a phenomenal explosion, but it didn't get anywhere close to even warming the demon's clothes.

"Good", complimented Gardosen, after shaking off the smoke with a casual wave of his sword. "I really though one or two of you would be capable of using an elemental spell. I'm guessing you are the chaser who follows Libra Caste."

"PAY ATTENTION, ASSHOLE!" yelled Jin, punching him at full power. Arme's tasted one of Jin's punches in a training session and knew they were not exactly easy to tank. Gardosen didn't even bother to block. Jin's hand hit him full on the face, and the fighter almost immediately backed off, with an exclamation of pain.

"Damn! It's like hitting a mountain!"

"Trying to hit me head-on like that... the one of the Burning Caste, I see."

Suddenly, the unbelievable happened: the demon stopped, looking surprised, and a sword came out from his chest, roaring in purple flames. Sieghart appeared behind the enemy, back to his normal state, but still powerful.

"What were you saying about jaws and biting?" he provoked.

Gardosen, much to the Chasers' affliction, laughed and answered:

"So the Ram is down too... I should have chosen better who put here and on the other side. To think you weaklings could be so dangerous..."

That said, he moved ghostly fast again, turning in place and hitting Sieghart with his palm. He was launched backwards and landed more than ten feet from the demon, who still had his sword, now dead and without flames, across his chest. He removed it and threw it to the side, as if it was just trash.

"The Knight Master did a good job on you. Make you strong and not tell anything... Judging by the flames, you must be the one that follows Immortal Caste."

"Hey!" called out Ronan. "Time out! What did you mean by 'other side'?"

"The other reality where we have located a Core. And that reminds me I don't have too much time to play with you. I really want to be there when that Core comes to life. Thanks to your two friends, of course. The demon and the angel, how curious..."

"Demon... and angel?" asked Lire. "If Lass is the demon, the angel is..."

"You!" exclaimed Gardosen. "You finally show yourself, don't you? You really shouldn't have survived the Scourging, Nairi."

"That's not my name!" yelled Lire. "I am Lire, Lire Versignassi, and I'm not a First Born!"

Gardosen laughed.

"Yes, I'm also not a demon. Neither is that" he pointed upwards to the enormous fireball above their heads. "...fire. The floor we stand on is not stone and neither is air what you breathe. Don't run away from your Fate, Nairi, for you are the only one here who is absolutely tied by it."

"I'm telling you, you got the wrong person!" said Lire, convicted. "I'm only eighteen years old; there shouldn't be any First Borns by the time I was born!"

"What you know, what you remember, you will find out how little it matters. Memories can be changed. Erased. Created. All that is possible."

Gardosen raised both his hands. His immense energy focused on them. He was preparing a massive spell.

"This has taken long enough, Grand Chase. I wish we had more time, but that is the one thing I have no hope of ever stopping. So now, you are going to die, for the glory of Lady Kaze'Aze!"

"_Tethra tensa ietotsu senmettria!"_ the palm of the demon's extended hands shone with a bright light. The Chasers, instinctively, closed their eyes.

"_Libra Caste: PHOTON REAPER!"_

As if a star was brought to life, the light bathed the place. Brimming with energy, the photons hit the Chasers and all at once they screamed, hit by an invisible, massive force. Even those who were unscathed, like Jin, faced major damage with that single hit. Together, the Grand Chase fell, unable to stand such a devastating power. All around them, the scenery was destruction. The attack had the shape of a cone, and behind them for about three hundred feet, nothing was spared. Even the earth had been splintered by the light, and was now carbonized, smoking and blackened. None of the Chasers was left standing. But one.

In the middle of the ruin, Mari Brautigan stood, laughing.

ELEVEN – **Lucifer**

Amy couldn't see Mari's face, hidden by her blue hair. When she spoke, Amy almost couldn't connect voice with person. It was like someone else speaking through Mari's throat.

"Photon Reaper… Heh. I expected more of the great demon king Gardosen. None of them are dead, you know? Light is like a concussion grenade: stuns, but doesn't kill."

Mari raised her head and Amy looked at her face. Her expression, usually calm and controlled, now bore a wild, dangerous look. In the middle of her forehead, there was a small blue signet and a blue aura of energy surrounded her. Blue sparks were jumping scarcely across her skin. And, inside the bicolor eyes, there wasn't a single glint of Mari. Gardosen seemed surprised too.

"You know who I am? Why did you lie to your comrades, Mari?" asked him.

"Comrades?" she asked, her voice sounding different, unsettlingly insane. "Mari?" she gave out a loud, maniac laugh and said:

"I am not Mari, the weakling created to prevent me from destroying this body. I am the original, who only comes out during Highlander Rage. The first inhabitant of this body, born long before your ridiculous Reich in the All-World. I am Lucifer, the Pure Highlander!" she exclaimed. Her eyes glittered when she proclaimed her true name, and her aura increased, getting more pronounced and threatening. She resumed her speech, now even more excited.

"After all these years, lying in forced slumber, I am still here! I'm still alive! And even more powerful! My energy is the purest! My way is of the Midlight! Comrades? Circle? Fate?" she laughed soundly to the sky. "Shit! Shit! _Shit!_ None of that means nothing! You want to be all friendly, go talk of your hopes far from me! _FUCK!_"

Gardosen grinned too.

"The Pure Highlander. To think you were here, in the Old World, and that of all maniacs, madmen, sadists and bloodthirsty freaks in the Omniverse, _you_ would get caught in a Circle. You, the worst of all. The Morning Star, Lucifer."

When Gardosen finished his words, Lucifer disappeared. Too quick for Amy to notice, she delivered a devastating blow in Gardosen's face. Unlike Jin, who'd felt the pain instead of the target, Lucifer's punch was extremely effective. Gardosen was pushed against the floor, but still managed to fall on his feet. Lucifer's second strike was held, and the demon countered it, making Lucifer fall into the burnt stone behind them. They exchanged some more fierce blows, but soon it became obvious that, fighting seriously, Gardosen's level was still too high for Lucifer to catch up. They stopped the fight and looked at each other. Gardosen had a minor bruise in his pale face and Lucifer was bleeding from the mouth, aside from carrying all the wounds Mari had suffered beforehand.

"What's wrong, Child of Daybreak?" asked Gardosen. "You seem weaker than what I'd expect from the strongest Highlander."

Lucifer cleaned the corner of her mouth and whispered.

"It is as I thought. The other one, the weak one, has not yet grown this body to its full capacity. I am being limited by her weakness…" she got up and Amy felt, from where she laid watching, incapable of helping, the energy gathering. More than Gardosen's spell. Lucifer still seemed far from defeated. She raised her arms and crossed them, making an eight-like shape. The first words of her chant made Amy widen her eyes. _Such high-level spell… How did she…?_

"Current of the sky, I summon you, power of the clouds, the instant murderer. Cradle of thunder, from under my soul, strike from the unreachable heights, electric force!"

With a deafening _boom_, a massive blue thunderbolt fell from the sky on Lucifer's crossed hands. When she uncrossed them, the lightning focused on her right hand, where a beautiful, shining spear, about twenty feet long, appeared, made of lightning and energy. She readied to throw, holding the spear back.

"_MIDLIGHT CASTE: LIGHTNING RIDER'S SPEAR!"_

The spear's path was marked with small thunderbolts striking the way. Gardosen raised his barriers to the full again, but he seemed to judge it was not enough. Chanting quickly, he summoned another spell:

"_Tower Caste: Power Barrier!"_

Five spell circles appeared one after the other in front of the demon's extended arm. Lucifer's spear collided with Gardosen's defenses with an enormous explosion, making such an air wave that Amy felt it from where she looked. The first defensive circle shattered upon contact with the spear. So did the next three; the last defense held for about two seconds before collapsing as well. The spear trespassed Gardosen in the chest, and he screamed, apparently in pain for the first time since the whole fight began. Lucifer laughed to the stars.

"The great big evil demon screams in pain! Not so invincible, are you?! Scream more! Writhe in pain! This is what I live for!"

She raised her energy again, but this time her hand was enveloped in a blue aura. Laughing like crazy, she jumped towards Gardosen, still stunned by her previous attack, and started hitting him relentlessly. Her blows seemed to deal considerately more damage with the blue light, and Gardosen was unable to react to the trouncing. Lucifer grabbed his head and smashed it to the stone ground, stepping fiercely on it after, making the stones crack all around. Her foot on top of his head, she laughed again.

"Yes. I feel so excited…" she said. "My skin crawls, and even my bones are shaking. All your pain, I can feel it all. It feels good! Extremely good! Almost too good to be true! Nothing gives me more pleasure than doing it, causing it, causing pain! Suffer! Suffer and scream and suffer more! It makes me feel my personal paradise! Fuck!"

By the end, she was screaming again. Amy was starting to get afraid of her. _After she's done with Gardosen, will she turn against us?_ Amy was sure, if she did, none of them would be a match for her. She'd slaughter them and laugh on their blood. At that time, something changed. The fireball which was their sun was extinguished, when Gardosen stopped feeding it his energy. At the same time, she heard the sound of sirens from outside the museum. _They're here!_ The police had finally arrived. Their time had just run out. She noticed movement to her left and looked, to see Sieghart woken up and staring at Lucifer.

"Sieg! Are you alright?" she asked, trying to move towards him. Her limbs didn't obey.

"Her name…" asked the highlander. "Was Lucifer?"

"She said so", confirmed Amy.

"What a huge sadist", he commented.

"Yeah", said another voice. They looked and saw Jin, staring at Mari's other persona as well. "That girl in bed must be wild."

Amy rested her head on the burnt stones, sighing.

"Is that what you should be worrying about now?" she asked. "I mean, what if she decides to pleasure herself with us next?"

"That won't happen", said Sieghart. "She didn't defeat Gardosen yet."

TWELVE – **The Master of the Chase**

Gardosen's punch sent Lucifer straight to the trees. She stopped many feet into the forest, on her hands and feet. She looked at Gardosen and removed her glasses, putting them carefully on the roots of a nearby tree. Mari needed them. She didn't.

"You'd better remember picking them up later, other me", she muttered.

Using another part of her energy, she used her highlander energy again, this time from the feet, in order to push herself into the air. She then tried to hit the demon lord, but he held her hand with his, extinguishing her aura with his grip. Astonished, Lucifer jumped back.

"I was a little surprised by your 'show', right now", said Gardosen, mockingly. He reached for the spear and, like he had done with the Champion's Call, removed it from his chest. It disappeared in an electric cloud. "You really are alive, Bearer of Light. To think everyone in the All-World believes you died along with Kounat. How did you survive, may I ask?"

Lucifer prepared to attack again, when a voice spoke inside her head. At first, she thought it was some kind of mental attack from Gardosen, but then she recognized the presence in herself.

_Wait! These frontal attacks won't do any good!_

_Mari?_ There was no mistaking it: it was her other self, the weaker one, speaking from inside their shared body.

_I don't know who you are, or how you took control of me, but you can't destroy my body like this! These thoughtless approaches won't work on him!_

_What do you mean?_, asked Lucifer.

_How do you think I defeated the Red Gorgos? I used reason. You are just being carried by anger. I don't even know why you're angry!_

Lucifer shook the other off.

_I don't need your fucking help! You don't even know who you are!_

_Why don't you explain, then?_

The Morning Star sighed.

_There is no time. You'll know later, but now I have to make this asshole suffer!_

Lucifer ran to the demon again, attacking with her blue aura, with the same effect; he stopped both fists and energy, mocking her efforts.

"Ask Mari to get stronger before you come after me again, Child of Daybreak", he said. "Or else, you would, if you had the time. Unfortunately, I will end your long life right here!"

He advanced and Lucifer prepared, hopeless, to hold his hand, extended and rigid as a blade. Before he got close to her, though, a blur came out of nowhere and Gardosen was pushed back by an invisible force. The demon stopped and looked at the one who hit him.

"You!" he said, sounding scared for the first time.

Wearing a red armor, her hair now bright gold, Arianne Lothos stood between the demon lord and the highlander, a resolute expression in her radiant face. Ruptured, she looked like a goddess of war, terrible and admirable.

"So it really was you, Morning Star", she said. "I'm sorry, Gardosen, but I will not let you lay another finger on my students."

Lucifer, shocked, didn't react. Mari, inside her, exclaimed: _Master!_

"Knight Master! I thought you had destroyed the gate!" exclaimed Gardosen.

"I did."

Gardosen readied himself, but it was pointless. Arianne was already on him long before he was ready. Her uppercut sounded like an immense stone falling on top of another and Gardosen was thrown upwards like a pebble. Arianne followed him and actually reached a higher altitude with her jump than the demon's flight, hitting him down and making another crater on the ground. At that point, it already looked like a meteor rain fell on the museum.

Gardosen got up and threw himself in direct combat with Arianne. She avoided his tackle by jumping again, higher than Lucifer would think reasonable, almost fifty feet into the sky. Gardosen followed her and their fight was transferred to the air. They used each other and sometimes the air itself to support themselves, and their fight had reached a level Mari didn't remember ever seeing. But even so, Gardosen was apparently having a hard time to follow Arianne's speed and skill. Mari, looking through a blue mist, almost didn't believe that woman was their master. _How can a human grow so strong?_ She didn't expect an answer, but Lucifer gave one:

_Look with your useless eyes. Don't you recognize that aura, the presence of her soul? That woman is not human. She is…_

Gardosen pushed himself back from the Knight Master and landed on the roof of the same building Mari had used to fight the Red Gorgos. Arianne landed on the other side of it. Gardosen looked tired while Arianne, simply condescending.

"You should learn when to fight and when to run, demon. You may be strong, but can you really go up against a true Queen? I am Arianne Lothos, Energy Queen of the Immortal Caste, highlander and master of the Order of Seredin!"

"The Queen of Immortal Caste", muttered Gardosen. "What are you doing in the Old World? You are lying."

"What do you know? You are nothing but a soulless shell, the dictator of a blind army, a shame to all demon kind. Now, I will show you the true power of a Caste King." Instead of taking up her sword, Arianne called on a strange item, which looked like a double knife, with the handle between two blades. Even form that distance, Lucifer felt the item's incredible power. "Give up, Gardosen, for this is my Crown. These blades have killed countless humans, elves and even gods, and now it's time for them to taste demon blood!"

Lucifer stared, terrified, at the dagger. _An Infinity Crown! She really is a Queen!_

_What are you talking about?_ Asked Mari.

_That thing is her crown, the item that proves her royalty. Can't you feel its power?_

The mysterious weapon shone with a bright yellow light. Lucifer's bones vibrated with the energy permeating the air. _Such power… even more than me before. That must be her Edge._

_Which is?_

_The King's signature move, usually the most powerful they have. Soul Edge, the unending authority of the Caste King._

"I won't let you!" screamed Gardosen, jumping towards Lothos. She jumped too, and called her ultimate skill:

"_IMMORTAL CASTE: INFINITY GOLDEN SUN!"_

The skies exploded when an incommensurable yellow fire body erupted from an absolutely enormous spell circle behind Arianne. The golden flames gathered on the two blades of her Crown, and she used them to slash the air. The arc-like wave of fire hit Gardosen, along with everything behind him, making the building his feet had just left explode from inside to outside. A new fend was opened on the floor, this time cutting the museum grounds from wall to wall. Lucifer raised her arms to protect herself just in time to block the blast force and heat wave from the explosion. And, above all the sound of destruction, she heard Gardosen screaming. The dust rose, making the museum fall into shade, smoke and fire all around. Lucifer raised her head, looking for the two combatants. Arianne was standing on what was left of the museum's name tower, and Gardosen was, surprisingly, standing inside the fend created by the fire slash. Arianne sighed.

"I held the spell back so as not to level this whole district", she said. "Maybe I shouldn't have."

Gardosen stood up again and extended his left hand. Lucifer noticed what he was about to do.

"_He's running away!"_ she screamed. Arianne didn't move.

"I have other places I need to be. Until we meet again, Energy Queen. _If_ we do."

He opened a dimensional rift and crossed it. The hole in the Fabric of Truth closed silently behind him.

CHAPTER'S END

**Author's Afterword:** I hurried up and finished this since there were people threatening my life through the reviews, something I only took notice after the new year (sorry about that). Calm down, folks. Violence is never the answer.

Seriously, though, I bought myself a new notebook and up until a couple of weeks ago I couldn't write because I had no Office and no time to download one among all my Steam purchases. Like Darksiders 2 and Saints Row: The Third. I was also somewhat busy changing my job because my last one fucking sucked (the new one does too, by the way).

So, review me to tell on my mistakes, tell me if you liked, if you didn't, if you think I have no skill to write this kind of shit... in sum, give me feedback on this. No one is forced to, but it'd be nice of you. Also, please, if anyone can contact me and help me, I'd like to know how can I (and if I have to) join any forums, as I really don't know the machanics around here. It'd be pretty shitty to just drop in a closed forum and promptly get keelhauled out of it by hundreds of potential readers. Just don't do so by review. PM me or something.

Don't worry about the story. Dropping this is not on my plans yet. I also like my life, despite proof and witnesses otherwise.


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